Film on Indira Gandhi's assassination cleared by censor board

"31st October", a movie based on the assasination of the country's former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and its aftermath, has been cleared by the Revising Committee of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) after a four-month wait and nine major cuts, the makers have said.

The film, written and produced by Harry Sachdeva, features Soha Ali Khan and Vir Das. It is based on Indira Gandhi's assassination by her two Sikh bodyguards and its aftermath.

Sachdeva, who had to make some modifications in the film, said, "It took time, 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."

The producer admits that many of the scenes depicting violence and bloodshed had to be edited out.

"I took nine major cuts. The censors insisted that some of the scenes and dialogues could instigate a particular community, so it needed to be toned down."

"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.

Then film is directed by Shivaji Lotan Patil.