In a career spanning 7 years, the noted & the most contested Indian lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi has 17 acquittals, most known for defending those wrongly accused in cases of terrorism. He was shot down in his Mumbai office by three incursionists in 2010. Director Hansal Mehta and writer Sameer Gautam Singh take the brave step and give a tribute to the manful, intrepid and resolute man he was, through the movie. The spectators of Hindi cinema today, relish varied genres and some stories are ought to be told by the medium of cinema. Hence, the movie is a mix of 95 per cent fact & 5 per cent fiction and the sole motive of the documentation is to enlighten the viewers with Shahid Azmi's journey, right from being arrested during the riots till his assassination, that should not only be parochial to merely a controversial news piece.
After Shahid's arrest during the 1992 Mumbai Riots, he goes to Pakistani Controlled Kashmir into a militant training camp, but comes back disillusioned. The police gets hold of him again under TADA, serving seven years in Delhi's Tihar Jail, on charges of plotting against the state, where he has been given Third Degree treatment & forced to remain naked throughout, though he was acquitted later. He starts studying while in jail under the influence of Professor Saxena (Yusuf Hussain) & Waar Saab (Kay Kay Menon), though he gets influenced somehow by radical person like Omar Sheikh (Prabal Panjabi) but he was so damn adamant on reading & frustrated by the injustice that he goes on to finding resolve & optimism through mentoring & support of his elder brother Arif (Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub) to become a criminal defense lawyer in Mumbai in 2003, defending cases for those accused for terrorism. Meanwhile, he comes across Mariyam (Prabhleen Sandhu), over a case of property dispute & gets hitched, after several meetings cum date over the matter of her lawsuit. He continues his fight against injustice & gets on to become the bone of contention and resultantly, gets slained in 2010 at the tender age of 32. Shahid's only aspiration are the sentences by lawyer Roy Black :
“By showing me injustice, he taught me to love justice. By teaching me what pain and humiliation were all about, he awakened my heart to mercy. Through these hardships I learned hard lessons…”
Hansal Mehta presents the film with ample drama in 129 minutes of runtime with spell-binding courtroom sequences. Every scene has some message hidden. The pace is jogtrot. In this tight budgeted movie, the cinematography -- overcrowded neighbourhoods, congested bylanes and filthy houses match each & every frame of the proceedings. The camaraderie between the brothers with their Ammi (Baljinder Kaur) is well presented. The editing is (Apurva Asrani) is slick. The romantic angle between the high voltage courtroom drama is soothing. Casting director ( Mukesh Chhabra) makes no mistake in his casting.
Though I have some reservations over the use of expletives, the unexplained track of Shahid's escape from training camp in Kashmir and the forced track of Kay Kay Menon.
Raj Kumar Yadav is exceptional in the portrayal of such a controversial lawyer. He is phenomenal. He carries forward the movie alone in his shoulders. Time and again he has proved himself & this time, he takes a giant leap as an incredible actor. He conveys bravity, vulnerability, bashfulness, victory and defeat with ferocious enthusiasm and how! After the show concludes, you'll take away his sincerity with you. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Baljinder Kaur and Prabhleen Sandhu deserves special mention. They are exceptional ubiquitously, especially Zeeshan, who's quainter & benign this time. Kay Kay Menon is almost there. Yusuf Hussain is competent as always. Tigmanshu Dhulia as Maqbool Menon, cast in brief but significant role, is wonderful. Vipin Sharma is a remarkable actor, no two doubts in that. Prabal Panjabi is effective in cameo. Mukesh Chhabra, who enacts the part of a witness, Shalini Vatsa as Prosecutor Tambe and Paritosh Sand as Judge are first-rate.
On the whole, Shahid is provocative, moving, gripping and thoughtful movie that has bravura performances to add to its credibility. It teaches us the moral that one needs to be always ready to fight against injustice irrespective of religions because the adage proves right as Shahid says that Marta Bhi Insaan Hai & Maarta Bhi Insaan Hai. Director Hansal Mehta has shown that real heroes are inside us, only we need to feel the feeling.
After Shahid's arrest during the 1992 Mumbai Riots, he goes to Pakistani Controlled Kashmir into a militant training camp, but comes back disillusioned. The police gets hold of him again under TADA, serving seven years in Delhi's Tihar Jail, on charges of plotting against the state, where he has been given Third Degree treatment & forced to remain naked throughout, though he was acquitted later. He starts studying while in jail under the influence of Professor Saxena (Yusuf Hussain) & Waar Saab (Kay Kay Menon), though he gets influenced somehow by radical person like Omar Sheikh (Prabal Panjabi) but he was so damn adamant on reading & frustrated by the injustice that he goes on to finding resolve & optimism through mentoring & support of his elder brother Arif (Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub) to become a criminal defense lawyer in Mumbai in 2003, defending cases for those accused for terrorism. Meanwhile, he comes across Mariyam (Prabhleen Sandhu), over a case of property dispute & gets hitched, after several meetings cum date over the matter of her lawsuit. He continues his fight against injustice & gets on to become the bone of contention and resultantly, gets slained in 2010 at the tender age of 32. Shahid's only aspiration are the sentences by lawyer Roy Black :
“By showing me injustice, he taught me to love justice. By teaching me what pain and humiliation were all about, he awakened my heart to mercy. Through these hardships I learned hard lessons…”
Hansal Mehta presents the film with ample drama in 129 minutes of runtime with spell-binding courtroom sequences. Every scene has some message hidden. The pace is jogtrot. In this tight budgeted movie, the cinematography -- overcrowded neighbourhoods, congested bylanes and filthy houses match each & every frame of the proceedings. The camaraderie between the brothers with their Ammi (Baljinder Kaur) is well presented. The editing is (Apurva Asrani) is slick. The romantic angle between the high voltage courtroom drama is soothing. Casting director ( Mukesh Chhabra) makes no mistake in his casting.
Though I have some reservations over the use of expletives, the unexplained track of Shahid's escape from training camp in Kashmir and the forced track of Kay Kay Menon.
Raj Kumar Yadav is exceptional in the portrayal of such a controversial lawyer. He is phenomenal. He carries forward the movie alone in his shoulders. Time and again he has proved himself & this time, he takes a giant leap as an incredible actor. He conveys bravity, vulnerability, bashfulness, victory and defeat with ferocious enthusiasm and how! After the show concludes, you'll take away his sincerity with you. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Baljinder Kaur and Prabhleen Sandhu deserves special mention. They are exceptional ubiquitously, especially Zeeshan, who's quainter & benign this time. Kay Kay Menon is almost there. Yusuf Hussain is competent as always. Tigmanshu Dhulia as Maqbool Menon, cast in brief but significant role, is wonderful. Vipin Sharma is a remarkable actor, no two doubts in that. Prabal Panjabi is effective in cameo. Mukesh Chhabra, who enacts the part of a witness, Shalini Vatsa as Prosecutor Tambe and Paritosh Sand as Judge are first-rate.
On the whole, Shahid is provocative, moving, gripping and thoughtful movie that has bravura performances to add to its credibility. It teaches us the moral that one needs to be always ready to fight against injustice irrespective of religions because the adage proves right as Shahid says that Marta Bhi Insaan Hai & Maarta Bhi Insaan Hai. Director Hansal Mehta has shown that real heroes are inside us, only we need to feel the feeling.
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