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Friday, 21st October 11:00 AM IST
Vir Das is first rate, Soha Ali is outstanding, superb writing
Verdict:
Plot is complicated. 31st October is an account of that one day when the national capital burnt with its own rage after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh. Official estimates put the death toll in the aftermath of the riots to nearly 2,500 but it’s believed that the actual numbers are at least three times more. Communal tension is growing every second in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar where Devinder (Vir Das) and his wife Tejinder (Soha Ali Khan) live and killings start by the afternoon. It’s mayhem as rioters are catching up with every Sikh at a pace beyond imagination. Tilak Nagar is an obvious target because of its dense Sikh population, mostly middle class and helpless. Local politicians see it as an opportunity to rise in the ranks and thus it’s likely to continue for a few more days. Devinder has friends like Pal (Deepraj Rana), Yogesh (Lakhwinder) and Tilak (Vineet Sharma), who have vowed to get his family out of the barricaded Tilak Nagar area. But, is it already late? Film has intense screenplay. It has life in 1st half but in middle of 2nd half it becomes over dramatic and stretched. But it has impact.
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