Honey Trehan slams CBFC advisory as cowardness and dictatorship
The CBFC's new advisory says only final cuts count for certification. Honey Trehan, whose Satluj was pulled from Zee5, calls it cowardness and dictatorship.
The Central Board of Film Certification has a new message for filmmakers: your announced title and release date will not earn you any special treatment. Director Honey Trehan, whose Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj spent nearly three years in a certification fight, has responded with two words: “cowardness and dictatorship.”
Trehan shared a Satluj poster on his Instagram Stories, originally posted by Variety India, with “New CBFC guidelines for filmmakers” written across it. He said the rules underline “the Dictatorship in the country,” rather than a “Democratic approach towards the freedom of speech.”
What the new advisory actually says
On October 26, the CBFC issued a fresh advisory formalising what it wants from filmmakers who enter the certification queue. The board expects the final version of a film, complete with titles, graphics and sound, not a rough cut with fine-tuning still to come.
- Submit the final cut, not a work-in-progress.
- Lock titles, graphics and sound before approaching the board.
- Announced titles and release dates will not be considered.
The advisory follows a set of guidelines issued in September. It also lands after the board added 18 new members this year, the first reconstitution since 2017. Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty, Pallavi Joshi, Ricky Kej and Supriya Yarlagadda are among them.
Honey Trehan’s Satluj backstory
Trehan’s frustration is not hypothetical. Satluj, earlier titled Ghallughara and then Panjab ‘95, was stuck with the CBFC for nearly three years. It eventually surfaced on Zee5 in July under the Satluj title, uncut and with little noise, only to be taken down within hours.
The standoff made Satluj a reference point for debates about certification delays. When Trehan now argues that the process is not democratic, he is speaking from that experience.
Why this matters for the rest of the industry
The new advisory arrives after a difficult certification season for several films. Tamil Nadu chief minister Vijay’s final film Jana Nayagan was sent to a revising committee just before its intended Pongal release in January. The makers challenged the CBFC in court but received no relief, and the film released in July only after complying with the requested changes.
For producers, the practical consequence is clear: a locked release date is no longer a bargaining chip. The certification queue now depends on whether the film itself is genuinely finished.
What filmmakers should do now
If your film is headed to the CBFC, treat the check as a finish line rather than a mid-project checkpoint. Lock every title card, visual effect and sound mix before submission, and keep internal timelines flexible instead of banking on an announced date to create urgency.
To be fair, the advisory also brings clarity. Teams that arrive with a finished film know exactly what the board will evaluate, and the promise that announced dates will not be considered cuts both ways: it removes hoped-for leverage, but it also removes confusion about what counts.
The broader question Trehan is raising is whether certification should remain a technical checkpoint or become a creative gatekeeper. For now, the board’s position is simple: final means final.
Source: Hindustan Times
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