Honey Trehan Interview: We are filmmakers, not criminals
Honey Trehan’s Panjab ’95 has been in the eye of the storm since 2023, when it was scheduled to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Unfortunately, it was pulled out at the last minute. Produced by RSVP Movies and MacGuffin Pictures, it was called Ghalughara (Massacre) back then.
Based on the life of the Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, the film stars Diljit Singh Dosanjh in the lead with Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Suvinder Vicky, Arjun Rampal and Kanwaljeet Singh in prominent roles. Khalra had been investigating the disappearances, abductions, shootouts, killings and covertcremations of ordinary people, allegedly carried out by the Punjab Police, as counter-terrorism operations, during the insurgency years. Khalra himself was later abducted and killed. Eventually, six Punjab Police officers were convicted and sentenced for the same.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had objected to the original title of the film, along with suggesting 127 cuts. Its release at home has been facing indefinite delay, and the international release, excluding India, slated for May 2025, was also prohibited. Trehan has been vocal against censorship even as he From Udta Punjab to Panjab ’95, what has changed in the way censorship is being done?
It has become more political and agenda-driven. The people in power are using CBFC as a backdoor entry to control the narrative, the thinking of the filmmakers, and their freedom of speech and expression. They want you to make their kind of films, and not your own film.Why have things come to such a pass for the film industry?
Films hold a mirror to society. Film is a powerful medium, but they want to use it to serve their own agendas and for propaganda. They don’t want this medium to be yours [filmmakers’] anymore. They are creating a parallel industry of their own within the film industry.
So the critical issue then is not just the freedom of speech, but the freedom after it?Our work is our freedom of speech. Let it come out. If anybody has a problem, they can go to the court. We’ll follow what the court says. For my film, it started with 21 cuts and reached 127. There has to be some limit. It means they don’t want the film to come out. CBFC tells us to change the name of Jaswant Singh Khalra, the real-life person on whom our film is based. What they are asking is the deletion of the name of a martyr from our history. Jaswant Singh Khalra has been abducted once again; this time by the CBFC. The 127 cuts are not on the film but on the democracy of the country. You don’t even have legitimate reasons for the cuts you suggest.So what’s the way forward?
To each their own. These kinds of things will make art and artists corrupt. They will figure out how to manipulate to still make their films and voice their concerns. Some viewers might understand them, others might not get it. Then it won’t remain pure art.