The film started production in 2022 and since then the censor board has been looking at it with a slanted eye. From 2023 till today, this film has not only been prevented from being released in cinemas, but also from being released on Netflix and other OTT platforms. The teaser running on YouTube has also been removed.
The reason for preventing the release of the film ‘Punjab ’95’ is being considered political pressure on censorship, because the main character of this film (Jaswant Singh Khalra) had risked his life by bringing to light the truth about the missing people during the operations of the Punjab Police between 1980-90. Who was the main character of this film, Jaswant Singh Khalra, and why is the censor board repeatedly preventing the release of the film made on him, I am sharing information with the readers of ‘Ajit’ newspaper through this article.
Human rights watchdog Jaswant Singh Khalra was abducted by the Punjab Police on September 6, 1995, from his house in Kabir Park opposite Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar. He was taken away and kept in Jhabal police station. After being tortured severely, his body was dumped at Harike Head. At that time, there was a lot of controversy in Punjab about Khalra. The Congress government of Punjab was very angry. Panthic organizations and leaders also did not give much support to the Khalra family. The late Congress Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar handed over the investigation of this case to the CBI and made it safe for the Congress. After the long investigation of the CBI, some police personnel were punished, some escaped. The then former SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu committed suicide.
As the martyrdom of Jaswant Singh Khalra grew older, the case went into a cold pocket. Khalra’s wife Bibi Paramjit Kaur ran around a lot so that her late husband might get justice, but even then, justice was only achieved after a long time. Some policemen became dear to God. Some came out on bail. Some have filed cases in court using the excuse of illness. In the 1990s, after exposing the illegal killings of Sikh youth by the Punjab Police during militancy, they had started an investigation to hold the then Punjab government and the Indian state accountable for the killing of around 25,000 Punjabi Sikh youth at the Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, Patti, Tarn Taran and the crematorium in Majitha.
The role played by Jaswant Singh Khalra in Punjab in the 90s To show today’s youth generation on the big screen, the director of the film Khalra, Honey Trehan, born in Sagar city of Madhya Pradesh, started directing the film in 2022 after taking permission from the Khalra family. The film was to be released in 2023, but since then the Censor Board started playing tricks and stopped its release.
The Censor Board had suggested 120 cuts in the film based on this sensitive subject of Punjab. Film director Honey Trehan says that earlier we had to take care of some strict conditions of the Khalra family, now speculations are going on due to the Censor Board’s procedures. This time the film was to be released on February 7. But the Censor Board put a stop to it.
The Censor Board wants 120 cuts to be made, the title of the film to be changed, the name of the main character to be changed from Jaswant Singh to something else. Keeping this condition of the censor board in mind, the film was renamed as ‘Punjab ’95’ but the team was not allowed to make any cuts, because let’s say the film is 120 minutes long and each cut is 20 seconds long, then you are removing 1/3 of the film. That is, you are removing half the film. First of all, if the Khalra family has approved the film director, then can the censor board ban Jaswant Singh Khalra’s legacy and his family with 120 cuts, including the change in the name and lead character of the film, along with such strict conditions, then can it be called right? Earlier, Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Emergency’ film was released with 13 cuts. The film ‘Kashmir File’, made on Kashmir, was released with 7 minor cuts.
But the film made on Khalra was also removed from the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival due to political pressure from the Indian government. Apart from this, the trailer of the film released on YouTube in January 2025 was also removed from YouTube Who was it and how did he display courage and expose the character of the Indian
government and the Punjab Police?
as soon as it received more than three lakh views. In fact, there is political pressure on the Censor Board, the Censor Board wants some other changes to be made in the film…. Like, Jaswant Singh Khalra’s name should not be used, the film should not be named after Khalra, the Gurbani Kirtan played in the film should also be removed, the figures of fake police encounters in Punjab, unclaimed bodies and the names of the places where these incidents took place, the names of the police officers should also be removed. One thing to note is that all the historical facts that the Censor Board is objecting to have been proven.
Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra tweeted, “We also appeal to the producer of the film to stand by the truth of Jaswant Singh Khalra and the story of the film. We agree with the film director’s decision to make this film based on legal facts and the character of Khalra played by Diljit Dosanjh and hope that the film will be released in its original form.”
Whether the film is released or not is a matter of later, but one thing is for sure that every Punjabi is eager to see the character that Jaswant Singh Khalra played in his life while searching for those missing people.
