Indian movie “Punjab ‘95” has been taken off the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival line-up.
The film, starring singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh as human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, was scheduled to premiere at TIFF’s Gala Presentations.
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Last week, “Punjab ’95” was taken off the line-up on TIFF’s website. The communications team of TIFF confirmed to ET Canada on Monday : “The filmmaking team of “Punjab ’95” removed the film from the 2023 lineup.”
The Honey Trehan-directed film is a biography of the human rights campaigner Jaswant Singh Khalra and it was dogged by several controversies in India.
Khalra had allegedly discovered sinister details of illegal killings and cremations involving the Punjab police, which catapulted him to global attention. In 1995, Khalra was abducted while washing his car outside his house in Amritsar. After an extensive investigation, in November 2005, six Punjab police officials were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for Khalra’s abduction and murder.
India’s official film certification body, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), gave “Punjab ’95” an ‘A’ rating (equivalent to Canada’s 18A certification) in addition to 21 edits and alteration of controversial dialogues.
“Punjab ’95” also features actors Arjun Rampal and Varun Badola in prominent roles.
TIFF takes place Sept. 7-17.
