by HARINDER BAWEJA
Satluj is like a balm for the wounds of Punjab, says director Honey Trehan, but it has been banned because it does not promote the politics of divide and rule.
It is final. Satluj, now being screened across the villages of Punjab, is officially banned. Director Honey Trehan was 42 years old – the same age as his protagonist, Jaswant Singh Khalra – when he immersed himself in documenting the abduction and killing of the human rights activist. In an exclusive interview with Harinder Baweja, the first after an inter-departmental committee canned the movie, Trehan opens up on the four-year-long battle he had to wage within the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) before being finally handed a ‘death certificate’. Edited excerpts:
It’s official. Satluj has been grounded, domestically and internationally. You must be a very disappointed man. Can you share your feelings with us?
I am very excited, actually. At least this film could release officially for two and a half days and people could watch it. For any filmmaker, it’s very important that his work be seen. The response blew my mind. I never expected this kind of response, and though I was confident and knew that the film and its message were very important, the love and appreciation I got is beyond my expectation.
I don’t see the film’s fate as a ‘banned movie’ because that goes against freedom of speech and democracy. I’m only disappointed that pirated versions are being watched. I never thought that Satluj would become a movement so quickly and that people would start downloading it. The love, appreciation and encouragement are overwhelming.
According to the inter-departmental committee comprising officials from the ministries of home, law, defence and women and child development, amongst others, the movie goes against the national interest and threatens India’s sovereignty. How do you respond to that?
I don’t buy it. I think we are a strong nation, a big nation. And let me tell you, my film was cleared by the law. Understand that when a filmmaker brings a script to a producer, he first hears the storyline. Ronnie Screwvala loved this script, which was then sent to law firms. And my film was cleared by lawyers! The producer comes on board to invest the money because the script has been legally cleared.
But those are private law firms, right?
But they are big law firms and their go ahead gives the producer the confidence to put in the money, because the investment is huge. And let me tell you about what happened when he went to the Bombay High Court (after the Central Board for Film Certification kept suggesting cuts). In the second-last hearing, the lordship mentioned publicly that he does not think this film should have a single cut.
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