Mumbai: Filmmaker Hansal Mehta recalled Thursday how making a film on a human rights activist changed his life. He was speaking on the 11th death anniversary of advocate Shahid Azmi. Thirty-two year old Shahid Azmi was best known for defending cases of persons accused of terrorism. He was assassinated February 11, 2010 here.
Shahid is the 2013 biographical drama based on the life and work of Azmi. It proved to be a career turnaround for Mehta, who had previously made forgetful films like Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! and Dus Kahaniyaan.
The director took to Twitter to express his gratitude towards Azmi. “Shahid Azmi. Wish I could tell him how he changed my life. Wherever you are thank you Shahid,” Mehta wrote.
The film earned two National Awards – best direction for Mehta and best male actor for Rajkummar Rao. He played the titular role.
Shahid also gave birth to one of the most successful collaborations in Hindi film industry with Mehta and Rao. They went on to work together on films like Citylights, Aligarh, Omerta and most recent, Chhalaang.
Shahid was written by Apurva Asrani. He later collaborated with Mehta on films like Aligarh, CityLights and Simran. The critically-acclaimed film had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2012 and opened to favourable audience response.
It also featured Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Prabhleen Sandhu and Baljinder Kaur.