'Shahid' movie review.

Shahid Movie Review

Rating: 4/5
Director: Hansal Mehta
Cast: Raj Kumar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Baljinder Kaur

Shahid is probably the most precious and brilliant work of Hansal Mehta and the filmmaker has told the lawyer's story in the most fascinating way. The story revolves around the city of Mumbai during the riots that followed the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, followed up till the 26/11 attacks that killed 166 people in 2008.

This is a real-life story of Shahid Azmi, a teenager who was caught up in the Mumbai riots and had to witness some gruesome things which left an impact on his mind and a few months later, the same guy finds himself in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, at a training camp for militants. But when he runs away and comes back to India, he's captured, tortured and imprisoned under the country's anti-terror attacks.

Azmi studies law while he's in jail and after he's released for lack of evidence, he practices law to help defend the people who were caught like he was, without any evidence. Shahid was from a poor family who lived in a slum for a while and got 17 people acquitted before being shot dead in his own office while he was handling the case of a defendant in the Mumbai attacks.

Hansal Mehta has surely captured every frame in it's true sense with all the materal he had. He uses narration to tell the story in an unbiased, subtle and perfect manner without any judging. Meha successsfully kisses every essence of Shahid's life from his strained marriage to his relationship with his mother and father.

Raj Kumar who plays Shahid Azmi, expresses the perfect amount of anger and vulnerability in his role and is one serious contender for the best performance of the year. Other actors Baljinder Kaur and Shahid mother, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, who plays his elder brother are also very convincing on their part. Everything seemed real. Everything.

This is certainly not a biopic, it's a tale of a man who wanted to live for something, who lived for something and died for something he wanted to die for. Do not miss this classic.