October

Story:

October is a Hindi-language drama film directed by Shoojit Sircar and produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar under the Rising Sun Films banner. The soundtrack features compositions by Shantanu Moitra, Abhishek Arora, and Anupam Roy. The film stars Banita Sandhu, Gitanjali Rao, and Varun Dhawan, with both Sandhu and Rao making their acting debuts.

Written by Juhi Chaturvedi and filmed by Avik Mukhopadhyay, the story centers on a hotel-management intern who devotes himself to caring for his comatose fellow intern in an unusual and selfless way.

The film premiered on 13 April 2018 and grossed over ₹584.1 million worldwide. Following its release, the filmmakers faced allegations of plagiarism from the Marathi film Aarti – The Unknown Love Story, directed by Sarika Mene. The Screenwriters Association investigated and found some resemblances between the films but cleared October of plagiarism, noting that the real-life events inspiring both movies were not subject to copyright protection.

October received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Dhawan’s performance, which surprised critics after the criticism he received for Judwaa 2. Despite the praise, the film was not a commercial hit. It earned seven nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor (Critics) for Dhawan, Best Supporting Actress for Rao, and Best Female Debut for Sandhu.