Shahid

2012 · India · 129 min

Director: Hansal Mehta
Producer: Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra
Editing: Apurva Asrani
Production company: Anurag Kashyap Films

What the critics say

100 % Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews

Cast

What it is about

During the 1992 Bombay riots, young Shahid Azmi and his family witness brutal communal violence that leaves him deeply shaken. Disoriented, he flees to Kashmir and joins a militant training camp, but he turns away after seeing a savage execution. Back in Bombay, he is arrested under the TADA anti-terror law and pressured into signing a false confession. Behind bars he discovers the value of education and, once cleared, studies law and takes up the cases of young Muslims wrongly accused of terrorism, often without payment. The film follows his career as a lawyer and the pressures it brings.

How it was made

Hansal Mehta returned to filmmaking after several commercial disappointments, moved by the 2010 murder of lawyer Shahid Azmi. He began research about three months after the killing. Sameer Gautam Singh wrote the script after studying Azmi's life and interviewing his family and friends over several months, and the cases he read were used to shape the story. Mehta merged several of Azmi's petitions into one case to give the narrative clarity and dramatic force. Rajkummar Rao was cast in the lead, preparing by meeting Azmi's family and attending courtrooms. Anurag Kashyap and Sunil Bohra produced, and Apurva Asrani edited the film.

Reception and legacy

Shahid had its world premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and played at several other festivals, where it won the Silver Gateway Trophy at the Mumbai Film Festival and Mehta took best director awards at several events. It opened commercially in India in October 2013 and was met with critical acclaim. At the National Film Awards, Rao received the Best Actor award and Mehta the Best Director award. The film is remembered as a restrained biographical portrait of India's criminal justice system and of a human rights lawyer.

Stills

More films by Hansal Mehta

Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.