India's controversial film pulled from film festival

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The 2023 Toronto Film Festival has announced that it will pull the Indian made activist drama film PUNJAB 95 from its list. The feature was due to receive its world premiere in the Gala Presentations strand of TIFF on September 11 but a festival spokesperson confirmed that it is no longer part of the program. The festival would not comment further on the reasons behind its withdrawal.

The film is based on a true story, it stars singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh as Khalra, a renowned human-rights activist who found evidence of the abduction, murder and cremation of more than 25,000 Sikhs by the police during the militancy period in Punjab from 1984 to 1994. Khalra disappeared in September 1995 and six Punjab police officials were convicted a decade later for his murder.

The subject matter has seen the film face censorship battles in India for several months. Mumbai-based production company RSVP Movies applied for a censor certificate from India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in December 2022 but a decision was delayed for six months.

When a certification was finally issued on July 4, it was given an A grade (restricted to adults aged 18+) with an order demanding 21 cuts and alteration of dialogue. This included changing the film's original title of Ghallughara – a Punjabi word that refers to a large-scale massacre of Sikhs.

The CBFC stated that certain parts of the film could incite violence and may potentially radicalise Sikh youth while affecting the integrity of India and its relations with foreign states.

RSVP Movies, led by prominent producer Ronnie Screwvala, filed an appeal with the Bombay High Court over the decision but it is understood that a verdict has yet to be reached.

Punjab '95 marks the second feature of Indian director Honey Trehan after 2020 Netflix film Raat Akeli Hai. Trehan is also a co-writer and producer on the film, through his MacGuffin Pictures banner, and was previously at Toronto in 2016 as a producer on A Death In The Gunj. The cast also includes Bollywood star Arjun Rampal and Suvinder Vicky, who has gained recent popularity through Netflix crime series Kohrra.

View the official trailer