Satluj movie review: Diljit Dosanjh, Arjun Rampal film recounts harrowing tale from Punjab ‘95 that's a punch to the gut

SAtluj pic reviewCast: Diljit Dosanjh, Arjun Rampal, Suvinder Vicky, Kanwaljit Singh, Geetika Vidya OhlyanDirector: Honey TrehanRating: ★★★★Where to watch over: Zee5 Satluj motion-picture show critique: Honey Trehan’s antecedently titled Punjab '95 was brought out of purgatory and dropped on Zee5 uncut, under a new name: Satluj. It’s only later in the tale that you understand why the film has been named that. The CBFC reportedly asked for a whopping 127 cuts for the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer to be released in theatres. It’s just as well that the story is now being told in its intended form, which delivers a punch to your gut.Satluj storyIt is 1995 in Punjab. The state is only now emerging from the chaos that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Bank employee Jaswant Singh Khalra (Diljit Dosanjh) is leading an ordinary life in Tarn Taran till he’s told someone close to him is missing. What begins with a plea to the police soon unravels, and Jaswant notices a worrying pattern around him. 25,000 people have been killed and illegally cremated. In his quest to uncover the truth about the police force using militancy as an excuse to cover up their atrocities, he puts everything on the line, including his safety. Satluj reviewSatluj opens with a chilling sequence, one of the many that follow in this tale. What initially seems like a playful scene of police drinking on duty and pulling a colleague’s leg about his upcoming marriage soon turns into something chilling. It sets the tone for the kind of casual violence you will witness in this movie. The river Satluj becomes the identity of Punjab in more ways than one. You think you know what’s coming at this point, but the more Jaswant uncovers the truth, the more apparent it becomes how rotten the system has become from the inside. What works for the filmSatluj is narrated by Additional Director of the CBI, Samudra Singh (Arjun Rampal), who is eventually brought to Tarn Taran to investigate Jaswant’s disappearance. If you know of the real-life case, you know what happened to the man. And yet, the film’s final moments don’t make it any easier to watch. The film does a good job of underlining how something that began as a bid to clean up the state soon turned into a war against its own citizens. And police officers Bitta (Kanwaljeet Singh) and Sugga (Suvinder Vicky) become the faces of everything to despise. Not a single cast member seems out of place here.2-hours-43-minutes of the film are spent painstakingly on not just showing Jaswant’s transformation from a banker to a human rights activist, as a father and a husband wanting dignity at the place his family stays at, but also on unravelling how Punjab has gotten to be in the position. It’s easier to point fingers at one person or one situation for something as harrowing as this, but Satluj focuses more on how to rein this in than on playing the blame game. The more bodies you see racking up, the more cracks you see in an already flawed system, the more you understand why the film’s team fought to keep it intact. What doesn’t workIf one were to nitpick, one might argue that Satluj never shows that Jaswant isn’t new to activism. His Harnam Singh was an activist in the Ghadar movement for India's independence. He was also one of the passengers on Komagata Maru, the ship that was denied entry into Canada. This is especially valid, given how Jaswant is later invited to Canada to discuss what’s happening in the state. One might also argue that the film could have been shortened, but that raises the question of which parts of this story deserve to be trimmed.In conclusionSatluj might seem like the story of just one person, one region, and the horrific acts that occurred during a single period. But beneath the tension-filled and heartbreaking tale lies the answer to whether one person could ever bring about social change. More than just a sharp political film, Satluj is a reminder that a lamp can vanquish darkness, a relevant message for today's world.