HindiShahid is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film directed by Hansal Mehta. Jointly produced by Anurag Kashyap, UTV Spotboy and Sunil Bohra, it is based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010. The film stars Rajkummar Rao in the titular role; Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Prabhleen Sandhu and Baljinder Kaur appear in supporting roles.
Mehta took a break after some of his films were box-office failures. When he heard about Azmi’s murder, he felt the need to make a film about his life. He began his research for the film nearly three months after Azmi’s murder. Mehta met writer Sameer Gautam Singh, who wrote the screenplay after researching Azmi’s life and spending months interviewing Azmi’s family. Apurva Asrani did additional work on the screenplay with Mehta and also served as the film’s editor. Anuj Dhawan was the director of photography. Shahid had its world premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival’s City to City programme in 2012. It was screened at several other film festivals including the 14th Mumbai Film Festival, the New York Indian Film Festival, the Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart, the Dubai International Film Festival and the Chicago South Asian Film Festival. The film was awarded the Silver Gateway Trophy at the Mumbai film festival while Mehta won the Best Director award. Mehta also won the best director award at New York Indian Film Festival and at the Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart. It was released theatrically in India on 18 October 2013 and met with critical acclaim.
Shahid
