National Award-winning director Shivaji Lotan Patil is best known for the movie Dhag (2014) for which he received the Best Director Award at the 60th National Film Awards. In 2016, he directed two critically acclaimed movies 31st October and Halal, which won the Best Film on Social Issues Award at the 53rd Maharashtra State Film Awards. Patil also won the Best Director Social Issues Award at the event. The movie was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival and received a theatrical release in India in October 2017.