MUMBAI MIRROR (October 5, 2016)

A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court against the release of 31st October, a film based on the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed. The petition has contended that going by the trailers, posters and banners, it is against the ideology of the country’s oldest political party.

The petitioner, Ajay Katara, alleges that there are various scenes in the movie, starring Soha Ali Khan and Vir Das in the lead, which are “aimed and targeted against a political figure of the country” who has not been named in the plea. The PIL claims that the producers, has used a lookalike of the unnamed political figure who has been “painted in bad light”.

Katara contends in his plea that the film has targeted said person to invite hate and contempt and hereby transgressed the right to freedom of expression. Apart from seeking a stay on the release of the movie which was scheduled to hit theatres on October 7, the petition also demands for the deletion of some “offensive scenes”.