The controversy around Diljit Dosanjh starrer Satluj keeps getting louder after the film was reportedly dropped last weekend then sort of pulled out again within 48 hours which has trigger widespread reactions online.

While people continue talking about the film’s release actress Gul Panag has now voiced her support for it saying something about artistic freedom and that it’s important to engage with hard and difficult chapters from history.

On X, the actress who comes from Punjab reflected on her own life growing up during one of the state's most turbulent stretches.

She noted that tales tied to history shouldn’t be forced to stay quiet. Gul shared a run of tweets explaining why she thinks movies digging into these themes should be watched instead of being banned.

“I grew up in Punjab during the brutal years of militancy.I remember reading newspaper headlines about buses being stopped and innocent passengers being pulled out and killed. Also remember accounts of young men being picked up detained and tortured despite having nothing to do with the movement. Including from my village. Those memories are precisely why I don’t believe we should become so uncomfortable with difficult chapters of our history that we stop telling stories about them.”

In another tweet she talked about how the cinema should be open to discussion and criticism over censorship.

“A film isn’t a history textbook. It tells a story through one lens and one perspective. Debate it. Critique it. Counter it. Banning it is always counter productive. But don’t assume Punjab’s hard won rejection of separatism is so fragile that a film can reverse it!!”

Her comments arrive right about now when Satluj is still sitting at the center of a bigger public back and forth. The movie draws from the life and work of Jaswant Singh Kalra a human rights campaigner who became known for looking into the alleged quiet killings and the cremation of a number of people in Punjab during the 90s.

At first the project was called Punjab ’95 and it has been taking shape for quite a while meanwhile there have been many bumps along the road including repeated obstacles around when it will actually be released.