SHAHID

Hmmmm....what do you call a person who lays down his life while helping the needy, or those who can not stand for themselves? Yes, right you call him "SHAHEED", a martyr. And I think this 30 something lawyer did what befitted his name best, laid down his life serving others.

Late lawyer Shahid Azmi was one such person. His life seems to be full of ups and downs. He was born to a muslim family in 1977 and was third child of his parents. When he was just 14 he was picked up by police for being part of the riots that broke out in Mumbai in 1992. Feeling insecure he fled to POK and stayed there in a terrorist training camp for while. In 1999 he was held for conspiring to kill a senior politician and sentenced five year jail but was later acquitted. After his acquittal he continued his studies and went on to become a lawyer. He started his own practice and fought criminal cases for people who were falsely implicated. He was killed in Feb 2010, while he was defending one of the prime accused of 26/11 attacks. The accused was later acquitted with full honor restored.

Ok, now lets talk about the movie. Shahid is an exceptionally well written and well directed movie. Its a biopic based on the life of aforementioned lawyer Shahid Azmi. The movie opens with the scene where the lawyer is shot dead in his office and then goes into the story of the lawyer. The movie is very slow paced but well narrated. It takes you through a series of events in the lawyers life, starting from year 1992-93 where he was first implicated in the riots, to his taking asylum in a terrorist camp in POK, to getting a sentence for conspiring to kill some politicians, to becoming a lawyer and finally shot dead. Raj Kumar Yadav has done full justice to the role and seemed at ease with his character in the movie. If you are movie buff and like no nonsense movies then SHAHID is a must watch for you, but if you are looking for entertainment don't even head towards the theater. 

We the people of India folk to watch movies like BOSS and Atharintiki Daredi but we will not shell out money for movies like Shahid. And still blame film industry for not making meaningful cinema.    

At the end, I give you one more point to despise religion and aspire to be an Atheist. Investigations indicate that Shahid was killed by a gang to display its supremacy in the underworld. However, with whatever little brain I have I can guess that it cannot be that simple. Why would a gang kill a lawyer who takes up cases of persons who are implicated as terrorists by the law? He would be an asset to them as they could possibly use his services, isn't it. Shahid was killed by contract killers and someone must have paid for his death. Who could it be? Yes, your logical brain is thinking right it can be a person or a group belonging to a particular religion who simply despises muslims and when that person/group felt that Shahid was trying to save someone who was implicated in an act of terror they got furious and had him killed. Radical groups have radical ideas which lead to radical activities. So you see being religious could lead to killing of MAN who was just doing his job.