Censor board clears film on Indira Gandhi's assassination

Actress Soha Ali Khan and Vir Das starrer "31st October", based on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination, has been cleared by the censor board after several cuts and a four-month delay. Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Shivaji Lotan Patil, the movie is based on the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. According to its producer Harry Sachdeva, many of the scenes depicting violence and bloodshed in the film had to be edited. "I took nine major cuts. The censors insisted that some of the scenes and dialogue could instigate a particular community so it needed to be toned down," Sachdeva said in a statement here. "The Revising Committee made us re-submit the film several times, trimming down scenes that they had issues with by six to seven minutes. All verbal abuses have been beeped, even something as common as 'saala' on several instances," he said. The revising committee of the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has passed the film after a four-month wait. "It took time (to clear the film with CBFC) but we were eventually able to convince the censor board to retain the scenes, which brought out the realism of the story and which were important to the narrative. There's a reason for bringing this subject to the screen and justice needs to be done to the subject," Sachdeva said. The film, produced by Magical Dreams Productions Pvt Ltd and Harry Sachdeva, will release next month.