Crime Today News
Honey Trehan’s Punjab ’95 is a gripping, disturbing and eye-opening exploration of the consequences of untrammelled power.
The Punjab-Hindi film revisits the disappearances, extra-judicial killings and illegal detentions attributed to security forces battling Khalistani separatists in the 1980s and 1990s. The unflinching dramatisation of this well-documented period in recent Indian history has put Punjab ’95 in the crosshairs of the Central Board of Film Certification.
Originally titled Ghalughara (Massacre), Punjab ’95 focuses on human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was abducted in September 1995 in the midst of an investigation he was conducting into police brutality. Khalra’s wife, Paramjit Kaur, alleged that a Punjab police unit held Khalra without charges and killed him in October 1995.
In 2005, six Punjab police officials were convicted for the murder. Two were given life imprisonment, while four were sentenced to seven years in prison. In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted one official but enhanced the sentence of the remaining officers to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court in 2011 upheld these sentences.
Human rights groups have pointed out that Khalra was among the more high-profile victims of a counterinsurgency policy that indiscriminately targetted innocent civilians while claiming to curb terrorism. Independent investigations have shown that the state and central governments of the time gave the Punjab police unchecked powers to run death squads – targets were set, which, when met, were rewarded with promotions and other benefits.
In Punjab ’95, Jaswant (Diljit Dosanjh), while trying to find a missing neighbour, stumbles upon a larger pattern of murders. He realises that the orders to pick up, torture and kill people come from the state’s police chief, Bitta (Kanwaljit Singh). Bitta’s main enforcer is the merciless Sugga (Suvinder Vicky).
With the help of guilt-ridden policeman Satwant (Saurabh Sachdeva), Jaswant finds an unusual increase in firewood ordered by state-run crematoriums and bodies clogging up canals between Punjab and Rajasthan.
Bitta and Chief Minister Anant Singh (SM Zaheer) dismiss Jaswant’s findings. When Jaswant travels to Canada to rally international support for the humans rights violations, he is described as a traitor.
Despite warnings of threats to his life, Jaswant perseveres. After he disappears, the mantle of activism passes on to his wife Paramjit (Geetika Vidya Ohlyan) and conscientious Central Bureau of Investigation officer Samudra (Arjun Rampal). Samudra’s efforts to break the silence around Jaswant’s fate rattles Sugga, and eventually Bitta.
Punjab ’95 is not a biopic of Khalra, who hailed from a politically involved family. Rather, the film has been written by Trehan, Niren Bhatt and Utsav Maitra and edited by A Sreekar Prasad as a tension-laden thriller.
The opening scene is the first hint of normalised violence. A convoy bearing Sugga and his posse are on a night shift, their alcohol-laced banter giving little indication of their gruesome cargo.
Cinematographer KU Mohanan’s shooting style – steady shots, creeping movements, plays of light and shadow – emphasise the banality of evil theme. Some of Mohanan’s finest work is in the scenes in which Sugga terrorises Satnam and his family, and when Sugga openly threatens Paramjit.
Diljit Dosanjh and Suvinder Vicky stand out in a wonderfully performed film – Dosanjh is a quietly charismatic, empathy magnet; Vicky is coolly menacing and repulsive. Honey Trehan was a casting director before he made his feature debut with Raat Akeli Hai (2020).
Like Raat Akeli Hai, Punjab ’95 is a co-production between Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP and MacGuffin Pictures, which is run by Trehan and filmmaker Abhishek Chaubey. Punjab ’95 deserves to be seen but is unlikely to be – at least in its original form.
The movie is trapped in a censorship quagmire, which began soon after it was submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification in 2022. Over several months, board members demanded numerous cuts (over 120 at last count), effectively scuttling the release, Trehan told Scroll.
A case filed by RSVP and MacGuffin Pictures against the censor cuts at the Bombay High Court has not reached a resolution. Punjab ’95 cannot be released in Indian cinemas without a censor certificate. It cannot be sent to international festivals or released abroad because of its perceived sensitivity.
After so many cuts, the film will be damaged to the point of being unrecognisable, Trehan told Scroll. In edited excerpts from the interview, the 46-year-old filmmaker spoke of why Khalra’s story matters and why Punjab ’95 is in trouble.
What set you on the path that led to Punjab ’95?’
When Abhishek [Chaubey] and I were assistant directors, I had told him about my childhood in Punjab, and he had encouraged me to tell my stories. Punjab ’95 is dedicated to my parents and Sonu – Sonu is Abhishek. His encouragement and affection since the beginning of our journey has been a key force in my life.
I had actually wanted to make this film as my first film. Jaswant Singh Khalra is a reputed name in Tarn Taran, where I grew up. Khalra isn’t actually his surname – it’s Sandhu. He got the name because he is from Khalra. The year he died, 1995, was when my family moved from Tarn Taran to Allahabad.
During the first wave of Covid [in 2020], I fell ill and was quarantined for 14 days. I started reading Amandeep Sandhu’s Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines, in which there is a chapter on the disappearances. Amandeep told me that I should make a film on the subject, especially since I am from Tarn Taran. He also knew Navkiran, Khalra’s daughter.
Coincidentally, this call took place on September 6, the day Khalra disappeared. I called Amandeep back and said, I am going to make the film.
After the success of Raat Akeli Hai, Ronnie said that we should work together once again. I told Ronnie that I wanted to narrate an idea to him.
The Covid lockdown was still on. Ronnie had sanitised his office before the narration. He sat in a chair at the far end of the room. After nearly two hours of narration, he was deeply moved. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, make the film.
How did Diljit Dosanjh enter the picture?
In January 2021, I messaged Diljit. He happened to be on his way from Amritsar to the United States via Bombay. I persuaded him to come to my office in between flights.
Narratives about Punjab usually revolve around 1984, around the time of Blue Star. [The military operation Blue Star, aiming at flushing out the radical preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984, damaged the Sikh shrine, led to numerous casualties and was a precipitating factor in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984].
I told Diljit that I wanted to make a film about what had happened in Punjab after 1984. Diljit told me, there is only one story that matters after 1984 – that of Jaswant Singh Khalra. Diljit had tried to make a film on Khalra, but he hadn’t managed to get the rights.
I pulled out the file of research on Khalra and handed it to Diljit. I had spoken to the family, I had the rights and I told Diljit I wanted him to play Jaswant. Diljit stood up, held the file to his forehead with respect and said, “Waheguru”.
The script needed development. My only request to Diljit was that he grow out his beard. He agreed that there was no way he would play the character by wearing a wig.
Was Punjab ’95 always written as a thriller?
Yes, that was the idea. The opening sequence shows how normalised the situation was. I didn’t want to start the film with the main character. I wanted to first build the world.
That’s also why the film isn’t a biopic. I wanted to talk about the insurgency period in Punjab through Khalra’s eyes.
Niren Bhatt came on board for the script. The writing went on for many months. Then Niren got busy with the shoot of Bhediya [Amar Kaushik’s film, which Bhatt wrote]. Niren’s father died in between from Covid. Meanwhile, the initial funds had come in and Diljit was growing out his beard.
I involved one of my assistants, Utsav Maitra. By September 2021, we had two drafts ready.
Niren finally came back to the project. I really like him as a writer, his sense of structure and dialogue is very good. I took Niren to Punjab too, and a lot came from there.
There were many long scenes. I needed them to be summarised in a line or two. This is where Niren worked his magic.
For example, in one scene, Satnam tells Jaswant why he can’t quit the police. The voiceover by Arjun Rampal’s character has already explained that whoever wanted to leave the police force had to fill out a form numbered 311, and those who did so were targetted.
When Jaswant asks Satnam, why don’t you resign, Satnam simply says: I am riding a tiger. I can’t dismount it, otherwise the tiger will eat me up.
I also needed something to wrap up Arjun’s voiceover in the beginning. Niren came up with the line that floating corpses carry their own history.
The scene in which Jaswant talks about how, while a single light cannot dispel darkness, many lights together can, is from a speech he gave in Canada. One of his most well-known quotes is, “I challenge the darkness.”
You shot the film extensively in Punjab. What are your memories from the shoot?
We began the shoot in February 2022. Suvinder Vicky’s dates were clashing since he was shooting the series Kohhra. Sudip Sharma, who created Khohra, really helped me out here.
I have been blessed with amazing collaborators. Diljit hung around for several days in a hotel while I finished shooting with Suvinder. The very shot of Diljit in the film is when Jaswant bows before the Guru Granth Sahib.
After we had shot for around 10 days, a bunch of troublemakers turned up, claiming that we couldn’t make a film on Khalra, he is a martyr. They wanted to know if we had the permission of the family or the Akal Takht. We had to call off the shoot for a few days.
Ronnie suggested moving the shoot to Bombay, but I assured him that I could handle the situation. I approached members of the Akal Takht, who told me that the film was a noble project.
What conversations did you have with cinematographer KU Mohanan about the film’s look?
Mohanan sir has always been very sweet. He was really moved by the narration. When he was working on his graduation project at the Film and Television Institute of India, he had visited Harike, where Khalra’s body was thrown. Harike is also a wild bird sanctuary. So Khalra’s death hit home for him.
I love night shoots, which is why so many scenes take place in the darkness. The initial idea was to shoot Punjab ’95 entirely handheld. But then it was decided to shoot in a classical manner.
The references included Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Alan Parker’s Mississippi Burning. Schindler’s List is in black and white except for a scene of a girl in a red coat. That’s why the car in which Khalra is kidnapped is red in colour.
Gulzar’s Maachis was a reference too. One of the main characters in Maachis is also called Jaswant Singh, although Maachis is entirely fictional. I used the same actors – Kanwaljit Singh and SM Zaheer – who play the crooked cops Khurana and Vohra in Maachis. There is a dog named Jimmy in both films.
What was your brief to Diljit Dosanjh?
My brief to Diljit was to emphasise Jaswant’s ordinariness. Jaswant has a wife who works as a librarian and a son and daughter. He gradually evolves into an activist.
I have never worked with a more sincere actor. Diljit is 100% surrender. He gives utmost respect to the subject. He never gets any part of a line wrong. He doesn’t meddle with even a comma or a full stop. He doesn’t get distracted by anything else. You can pick up from where you left off.
Suvinder Vicky has played cops before in the web series C.A.T. and Kohhra. How did he play Sugga differently?
Suvinder Vicky is one of the greatest actors around. Because he comes from a theatre background, he can bring nuances to any character, and triumph over any situation
I cast Suvinder in his first Bollywood film, Udta Punjab [directed by Abhishek Chaubey and co-produced by Chaubey and Trehan]. Sudip, who wrote Udta Punjab, got Suvinder for Kohhra.
In Panjab ’95, his character is not just a cop, but represents a rank. Actors usually wait for lines and their cues. I told Suvinder, delay your response.
You see this in the chilling scene in which Sugga visits Satnam’s home and demands a meal of saag from Satnam’s mother, played by Amardeep Jha.
I told Suvinder, you have entered the house, now fall at the mother’s feet, since it is our culture. Request the mother to eat the saag she has prepared. She is shocked. She knows your reputation, her son works with you. Satnam says nothing – he is staring death in the face.
Sugga’s initial interest is in the saag. Suvinder said, I have got the hang of the scene. The scene runs for nearly nine minutes.
When did you first realise that Punjab ’95 was in trouble?
Never – I still don’t think like that. I still believe that it will be released someday.
Punjab ’95 was submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification in December 2022. The film was still being called Ghalughara at the time.
In December itself, we were told about a few cuts. In February 2023, we got a list of 21 cuts, rather 21 points of objection.
Anything that was a reference to reality was to be removed, from Jaswant Singh’s name to the place Tarn Taran. We could not show the cops as belonging to the Punjab police. Any mention of the actual numbers of killings, such as the 2,097 unaccounted deaths investigated by Khalra, had to go.
The saag sequence had to be cut down by 80%. The murders of Gurpej [played by Jyoti Dogra] and her son, which motivates Kharla to start his investigation, had to be removed. Arjun Rampal’s monologue about why the case matters had to go. Also the phrases “extra-judicial killings” and “human rights”.
Also, the beginning of Bitta’s speech after Sugga’s death, which is based on an actual letter by the character on whom Bitta is based. The reference to Trilokpuri in Delhi, where anti-Sikh riots took place after Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984. No “Delhi”, “desh” or “Canada”.
In June 2023, a case was filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the censor board’s decision. At some point during the hearings, both the opposing lawyers and the presiding judge watched the film.
In between all of this, Punjab ’95 was selected for a global premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, but we were forced to pull it out of the festival even though an Indian film doesn’t need a censor certificate to be shown abroad.
As of now, the demand is for 127-odd cuts. I commend Ronnie for standing by me and the film, and for continuing to do so under pressure.
I have showed the film to [the Sikh religious bodies] Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Akal Takht. They have not objected to it.
I have made a film about a person who fought for a cause knowing that there was a threat to his life and family. If I cannot stand by him or a film that is based on his life, I have no right to make this film.
Jaswant Singh Khalra has been abducted once again after 30 years. That is why I am talking about the issue now.
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This article first appeared on Scroll.in
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