Shahid Azmi’s story holds prominence in an increasingly polarised society. Director Hansal Mehta shares what inspired him to come up with a biopic
Filmstars schmoozing into newspapers’ offices to promote their latest movies have become a phenomenon. But when Hansal Mehta chose to fly down to Delhi to meet us at our ITO office, his objective was pretty clear. More than a seasonal photo op or promotional gupshups, he wanted to share more about his hard work, opinions and his discoveries about a dead “hero” who inspired him to make a comeback into cinema after a gap. Almost after five years, Mehta is ready with his latest movie Shahid, based on life of human right activist and controversial lawyer Shahid Azmi. The movie has already travelled across 14 international film fests and is finally releasing in India this Friday. “There are certain stories which need to be told. Shahid Azmi’s life is one among them. He has been the voice of oppressed section of this society,” said the director as he began to talk.
What inspired him to take up this story is as compelling as his revelation about Shahid’s personality during the making. “Under the unfortunate circumstances of his death in 2010, I came to know about him. I began researching, got the leads and investigated further. There was lots of sketchy information available since his life was full of events. Actually it was intriguing. A young lawyer became a militant, then studied law and became the voice of neglected sections and was killed for his passion. I met his family and friends to seek the permission. Despite the emotional turmoil, his brother, who is also a lawyer, was very articulate about Azmi,” he said.
Mehta made this movie because he stands by Azmi and his principles. “There should be many more Shahid Azmis in our society,” he declared. According to him, there couldn’t have been a better timing for this film. “We live in divided times. We are getting increasingly polarised. In such distress, we cling on to hope and this feeling of security. That security comes at the cost of many innocent poor people. There is nobody to fight for them. Azmi was their voice. Now it is important to have a contemporary story to talk about this section of people. We cannot be rejuvenating Mahatma Gandhi’s tale every time,” he said.
The film appears to be as real as possible and less dramatic. For that matter, Rajkumar and he also visited court rooms. “That day, it was a hearing of a filmstar. So he was as embarrassed as we were after bumping into each other. We realised courts were completely different as projected in the Hindi films. It was full of humour and regular arguments. Even lawyers were struggling to speak,” he said. During our conversation, we also asked him if Rajkumar was the original choice for the role. The candid reply was “No. There were pressures of taking big stars ad I had fixed some meetings too. But I was determined to have an actor who could bring life into this character. Now I sometimes address Rajkumar as Azmi,” he shared.
One of the posters of the movie shows a blackened face of the protagonist. It was used as a metaphor for violation and intolerance. “I think that’s the most effective scene. He says something in court and protesters blacken his face completely outside the land of law. But I think it’s important to raise your voice,” he said. Mehta thinks that progressive voices are subdued since they are not raised time and again. He narrated his own experience. He participated in a protest where police threatened them so much that the protest never happened. “Today when I look back, I think I should have done it. That’s the regret most of us are living with,” he commented.
Mehta took Shahid to several international film fests but the takeaway was surprising. “In terms of selling the story, it was all limited to conversations. Everybody coming to the fests want to sell a story. Audience still want dance and music in Indian movies. I think this barrier will break someday and we should keep making good films. Having said that I would add that I don’t have any issue with our naach gana. Satyajit Ray was the most popular filmmaker abroad and his cinema was full of music,” he said.
He is glad that he got corporate backing for Shahid which could have been difficulty a decade ago. Today, there are only two types of cinema, good or bad. lines between commercial and parallel cinema have been blurred. “Parallel cinema movement died in 80s because they started making bad films. Over time, we have used different jargons for non-commercial cinema. But today everything is one. Filmmakers just want their movies to be released and get some output,” he said.