Even as Satluj, based on human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, remains banned, director Honey Trehan has turned his attention to his next passion project. The filmmaker has spent the past few years developing a biopic on legendary Punjabi poet and writer, Shiv Kumar Batalvi, and hopes to take the film on floors by the year-end. The big question then is: who will play the late poet? 

As much as he would want his Satluj leading man Diljit Dosanjh to portray the role, that won’t be a possibility. “I really wish Diljit could play Shiv, but there is a technical problem. Shiv was a chain-smoker, and I can’t get Diljit to smoke cigarettes,” shared the director.