Satluj, starring Diljit Dosanjh, is making headlines yet again, and this time it’s a scene featuring Arjun Rampal that has got people talking. In the scene, Rampal’s character, a CBI officer, addresses his seniors and lays out the scale of police brutality in Punjab, calling it nothing short of the biggest genocide the country has witnessed since independence.
Many viewers believe the sequence is among the film’s most hard-hitting moments. In the scene, Rampal’s character argues that the case is much bigger than one missing person.
“This is not only about Kuljeet Singh, it’s probably about the biggest genocide our country has seen post-Independence,” he says, before referring to Punjab‘s troubled history, including the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, insurgency, Operation Black Thunder, President’s Rule and political assassinations.
He goes on to describe violence as a cycle that continues when those in power fail to act. “This is a vicious circle of violence which the powerful use for their own agenda and it will never stop. It will go on and on until we step in and set an example,” he says in the scene.
“We are answerable here, sir. We are answerable to our conscience. We are answerable to those families jinke apno ko lawaaris bana ke jala diya hai in logon ne (We are answerable to those families whose loved ones were declared unclaimed and cremated by these people). We are answerable to Jaswant Singh’s family. And yes, we are answerable to Jaswant Singh,” he says.
The monologue ends with an appeal for accountability, as the officer says they are answerable not only to the victims’ families but also to their own conscience.
Why the scene is going viral
The clip has since been shared widely across social media, with one widely shared caption claiming, “This scene is the main reason for removing the movie from OTT.”
Reactions on X have ranged from praise for the performance to pointed questions about the film’s removal. One user wrote simply, “Arjun Rampal different role same intensity in Satluj (sic),” while another took aim at the streaming platform’s explanation for pulling the film, dismissing its reference to “due process” and sharing the scene with the comment, “Look at this viral igniting monologue of Arjun Rampal officially posted on channel’s Instagram Page.”
On Instagram, the reactions carried a similar charge. One user wrote, “The sudden removal of ‘Satluj’ from OTT proves that the system is still afraid of Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra Ji’s story. If you believe our voices shouldn’t be silenced, hit the SHARE button right now. Let’s talk in the comments – why do you think this keeps happening to Punjab?” Another simply praised the ensemble, calling the film “a gem” and adding that “every single artist did their part to perfection.”
Arjun Rampal’s key role in the film
In the film, Rampal plays the CBI officer investigating Jaswant Singh Khalra’s disappearance, and also serves as the film’s narrator, a role that has put his performance, and this monologue in particular, right at the centre of the current conversation around the film.
Satluj, earlier titled Punjab ’95, is based on the life and work of Jaswant Singh Khalra, who spent years investigating the alleged secret cremation of thousands of unidentified bodies during Punjab’s militancy years. Its journey to the screen has been anything but smooth, with the film facing repeated delays before it finally released.
Directed by Honey Trehan, the film also stars Kanwaljit Singh, Suvinder Vicky, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan and Varun Badola in key roles.
With this scene now doing the rounds online, interest in the film shows little sign of slowing down. What started out as a straightforward OTT release has, in the span of a few days, turned into a much larger conversation about artistic freedom, censorship and just how much power a streaming platform holds over which stories reach an audience.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.indiatoday.in ’
