Hansal Mehta on 10 years of ‘Shahid’: A lot of gratitude for what it has given to all of us

PTI, Oct 18, 2023, 12:43 PM IST

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta on Wednesday marked 10th anniversary of his 2013 biographical drama film ”Shahid”, saying the movie has given him a lot and started his collaboration with actor Rajkumar Rao.

The critically-acclaimed film is based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist, Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010 in Mumbai.

”Shahid” had its world premiere in Toronto International Film Festival 2012 to great audience response.

Sharing the official poster of the film on Instagram, the filmmaker said the film had marked his new innings as a filmmaker.

”10 years of #Shahid. Just a lot of gratitude for what it has given to all of us. Shahid Azmi’s unfortunate killing gave me a new life as a filmmaker. This film began my fondest collaboration with @rajkummar_rao,” Mehta wrote.

The 55-year-old director also tagged the rest of the film’s cast, including Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Prabhleen Sandhu and Baljinder Kaur, as well as co-writer Apurva Asrani, producers Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra and casting director Mukesh Chhabra.

”Always thankful to @ronnie.screwvala and #SidRoyKapur for championing this small film with a big heart. Thank you Shahid Azmi,” he added.

Post ”Shahid”, Mehta and Rao worked together on critically acclaimed films like ”Citylights”, ”Aligarh”, ”Omerta” and comedy-drama ”Chhalaang”.

Mehta’s latest project is ”The Buckingham Murders”, starring Kareena Kapoor Khan. The procedural thriller film had its world premiere at the 67th BFI London Film Festival last week and is set to open the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival on October 27.