31st October 1984 is a date that India can never forget. It is the day our then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at her residence No 1, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi by her personal bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. It's also a day of shame for the entire country for the manner in which inflamed passions spearheaded by weakened political will spilled onto the streets of Delhi in a bloodbath that till today hasn't found closure for want of justice.

The Indira Gandhi assassination and the subsequent aftermath of violence from 1984 remains one of the most haunting memories in Indian history. It was genocide and yet very little is documented about it. It's the perfect source material to make a hard hitting film. Just like the terror attacks of 26/11 on Mumbai. Ram Gopal Varma had done a commendable job at depicting the 26/11 incident with grit, realism and the right amount of emotion. Pity that the makers of 31st October couldn't do the same.

On 31st October 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. The act ignited instant hatred towards members of the Sikh community. Thousands of Sikhs lost their lives. Some Hindus helped their Sikh brothers, while others butchered them. These aren't just facts strung together. They also happen to be the paper-thin plot of 31st October. Devinder (Vir Das), Tejinder (Soha Ali Khan) and their three children lock themselves in their house as the city of New Delhi burns outside.

The main plot of 31st October revolves around the violent treatment that the Sikh community had to face post Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984 by her Sikh guard. The film chronicles this incident with the help of their lead characters Devinder and Tejinder. Devinder (Vir Das) and his wife Tejinder (Soha Ali Khan) are a regular married couple with three kids, living in a friendly community in Delhi. While, Devinder has a government job and is a respected employee, his perfect life is catapulted with the incident of the assassination and thus what entails is the story of his and his family's survival.

The assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on that fateful 1984 October day had led to three days of shocking mayhem in the national capital, where armed mobs rampaged through many parts of Delhi, burning and killing Sikhs, and pillaging their establishments. It was, not to put too fine a point on it, a pogrom. The smell of burnt flesh and rubber was everywhere: the news of the assassination was finally confirmed by the BBC, leading to a bloody aftermath.

In 1984, anti-Sikh riots across India in the aftermath of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi shook the country and though the darkest chapter in the history of India is not forgotten yet, the episode has never been explored cinematically till now. Writer-producer Harry Sachdeva's 31st October starring Vir Das and Soha Ali Khan, which finally released after a lengthy battle with the Censor Board and various political parties, is one such story, which needs to be told, even after all these years.

A strong subject will not necessarily transform into strong cinema. A lot of things come into play in the making of a good film; a visionary director, a talented technical crew who work in rhythm with the director's vision, actors who can work on that vision and produce magic on camera on so on. Shivaji Lolan Patil's 31st October based on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots has none of these things. 31st October is, very frankly, a waste of space.

When then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh on October 31, 1984, a reign of terror was unleashed upon Sikhs in Delhi and parts of North India for the next four days. Over 3,000 Sikhs died in the pogrom, in their homes, in the streets, in gurdwaras, in front of police stations. Director Shivaji Lotan Patil's 31st October, produced by Harry Sachdeva, is an account of a true story set amid this horrific, politically-planned tragedy.

31st October stars Soha Ali Khan and Vir Das as Davinder Singh and Tejinder Kaur, a happy Sikh couple living with their three children in West Delhi. She is stern but loving, he a virtual saint. She feeds him and argues with him about his excessive goodness. He walks an extra mile for his Hindu neighbour. Everyone is nice to everyone and the world is all sweet and honey and sugar 'n' spice 'n' all things nice until Beant Singh and Satwant Singh shoot Indira at point-blank range.

It isn't enough for a film to be well-intentioned. It still has to get most of its punches in to put points on the board. 31st October, a rare Hindi film focused on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, decisively checks the first box. It, however, fails to score big on the second count. Written by producer Harry Sachdeva and inspired by true incidents, 31st October makes a fair fist of recreating one of the darkest days in the history of independent India.

It starts as just another day for Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking (DESU) worker Devinder Singh. By 7:30am, he has already sent his children to school and is mentally preparing himself for the usual mundane day in office. But, all of that is going to change in next 110 minutes. 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.