Amritsar, India: At a Sikh temple in India’s Punjab state, a defiant crowd gathers to watch a film that has drawn the ire of authorities. “Satluj,” which recounts the horrors surrounding a separatist insurgency in the 1980s annd 1990s, was taken down from online platforms within 48 hours of its release. It tells the story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a rights activist allegedly tortured and killed by police in 1995 after having investigated thousands of cases of disappearances and presumed extrajudicial killings. The film is a painful reminder of what many regard as one of the darkest chapters in Punjab’s history but also a way to ensure it’s never forgotten. “This film is only creating awareness, but we have lived through this. We have seen the original film,” says Manjinder Singh who lost his brother during the government crackdown.
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