Honey Trehan He recently explained the careful plan used to sidestep a tough four-year fight with the CBFC by releasing the Diljit Dosanjh starrer ‘Satluj’ (earlier ‘Punjab 95’) live online on Friday evening, uncut. But only about 105 minutes into the talk, the film was gone. The streamer released a statement saying the title had been removed and would not be available to watch in India “until further notice”.
Honey Trehan on how the secret digital crash was achieved
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Trehan shared the details behind the film’s digital release. When asked how the entire rollout was carried out in such secrecy, with no one having a clue until the notification dropped on Friday, it caused a huge wave of buzz online, Honey explained: “A massive amount of rapid operational loading was happening behind closed doors between RSVP and ZEE. To be honest, a part of my brain had lost faith that it would ever come out. I prayed constantly, but you built a cynical wall. Even at 6pm on Friday, I texted the team asking, “Is this really happening tonight?” Apart from the core corporate team, the only person who knew about the fall was Diljit. Right after I hit send on my anxious message to RSVP, a message popped up from Diljit Paaji saying, “Paaji, he’s really coming out tonight.” It seemed pure telepathy. Massive credit goes to ZEE for achieving this; I have nothing but monumental respect for how they defended this.”
Honey Trehan on RSVP’s longstanding ties with the OTT platform
When asked when the discussions with ZEE5 started, he shared, “ZEE5 has always been a fantastic partner for RSVP. We did Sonchiriya together under Macguffin and RSVP, and Kedarnath also partnered with ZEE, so it’s a long-term partnership. It’s not just one or two projects; they’ve had a deep and long-term transition, as their transition was deep and long-term. Digital rights deals. But initially, we intended to release this film theatrically. We wanted it to reach audiences on the big screen. Over time, however, the blockages multiplied. It was an endless cycle of, “Cut this, delete this, modify this section.” The frustrating part was that I wasn’t getting any legitimate, logical explanation (from CFBC) as to why these cuts were required.”
Honey Trehan in the last call to go digital
When asked what pushed them to go the digital route, he said, “The responses we were getting just didn’t have legitimacy. We waited, and finally we approached the court, but nothing changed. During this extended period of stagnation, Ronnie [Screwvala] sir along with ZEE took the ultimate call to go straight to digital. On streaming platforms, you don’t strictly need a CBFC theater certificate. When ZEE came on board, they loved the film and insisted it should see the light of day. In a way, they adopted an abandoned child. The sheer volume of global love and goodwill the film has received since it dropped is overwhelming. I didn’t even have time to shower today; My phone has been buzzing non-stop with people reacting to it. The public is celebrating this launch even more passionately than I am, so it’s incredibly important for me to respond to as many of them as possible.”