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.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.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.Artists and art are definitely in trouble. Somewhere, an unsaid, unspoken fear is there in filmmakers. If this is the way things go, then tomorrow they might even demand our scripts for approval. This idea has been discussed. There was a meeting that Paresh Rawal sir took me for, where Mr Anupam Kher, Mr Vivek Agnihotri were all there. One sarfira (crazy) filmmaker, whose name I don’t want to take, had proposed this idea. And you know who opposed this? Mr Vivek Agnihotri! He said it’s nonsense. This was about two years back.Is there no way out?
Perhaps when everybody gets affected, a united front will emerge to go all out and fight. At some point in time, you’ll have to say no to this. I am saying no individually. All the filmmakers who are facing this need to come out and stand by their films. We are filmmakers, not criminals
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 recently received the National award for