By BollywoodMDB Team - Oct 18, 2013 01:34 PM

Rating: 3.5/5

One Line Review: A ferocious endeavour to unveil the gruelling life pages of an upright slain lawyer Shahid Azmi.

Positive Points: Impeccable direction, Flawless art direction, Splendid character performances, Well-knitted script, Gripping concept.

Negative Points: A bit dreary second half that had a room for development.

Plot: The 1992 Hindu-Muslim riots leave grave mental scars on an ordinary man Shahid Azmi (Rajkumar Yadav). This tragic incident compels Shahid to take up the Jihadi cause and hence, he departs from Mumbai and becomes a part of the terrorist training camp based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Nevertheless, after returning home, Shahid realizes that he has not achieved yet what he intended to accomplish in his life. In the amidst of this, Police find Shahid's phone number in a terrorist's telephone diary and thereby Shahid gets imprisoned under the charges of having a close link with the terrorists. Shahid spends seven years of his life in Delhi's Tihar Jail. As Police can not find strong evidences against Shahid of his involvement in terrorist activities, Shahid is freed from the jail after seven years. After spending consecutive seven years of life behind the bars, Shahid comes out as a strong-minded and determined individual, who desires to head straight towards his ultimate goal. Now, helping out all of them, who are imprisoned under false charges, forms Shahid's extraordinary commitment in his journey of life. The human-rights activist Shahid gets armed to assist the innocent people, who get wrongly charged under TADA and do not possess enough wealth to prove their innocence in front of the law to achieve justice and hence, remain just as the scapegoats.

For the same purpose, Shahid studies law and takes up his first case in the year 2004. In this way, he begins his practise with a bigger aim to strive towards. In the meanwhile, Shahid starts developing a gentle thread of love towards a divorcee called Mariam (Prabhleen Sandhu), who has a child. The further story unravels the proceeding thorny life route of the lawyer Shahid stuffed with a pool of threat calls.

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: The director Hansal Mehta, who previously offered the films like 'Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar' and 'Dus Kahaniyaan', this time came up with an unexplored intense chronicle 'Shahid'. Rather than remaining as just another page in the Google, the filmmaker Mehta took a big leap by bringing alive the entire life story of the 32-year old slain lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was murdered at the hands of shadowvy assailants in the year 2010 in front of his Mumbai office. The reason being he was defending an accused from 26/11 tragic incident. Banked upon the actual facts and events, the narrative uncovered the indepth controversial incidents happened to the fearless lawyer Shahid Azmi, who fought seventeen complex cases in his life span. As far as the direction part is concerned, it was fabulous sans any loophole to talk about, unveiling the controversial moments with great care. The director successfully one by one enlivened the heart-wrenching incidents happened in the life of the upright lawyer Shahid and sketched the whole picture of the way he fought till his last breath.

The tale didn't provide any scope for any dull moment except the second half of the film that spotlighted on his family life in much detail, which was not essential and seemed just an attachment to add a bolly-touch to the flick. Due to this, the second half of the film somewhat misses the track and goes haywire. The first half of the movie builds the ultimate selling point of it, as it embraces the poignant happenings loaded with realism and makes one hold the breath. The movie scores high in terms of the art direction, cinematography and editing components that extend a valuable support to proceed the story to the next level retaining the grip intact. The art direction of the flick steals the show, as it depicts the locations and the ingredients that effortlessly gel well with the overall flow of the story. What makes this film to stand out from the crowd of others is, even if it does not scream for attention with exaggerated elements, it still reaches out to the audience in a very effective manner. The movie makes a place in the viewers' mind with realistic voilent surroundings and blood-filled riots happening all around that create a gloomy atmosphere.

Performance: The rising talent Rajkumar Yadav emerges as an out of the blue performer in this flick, who earlier sprinkled his acting charm in 'Kai Po Che'. Rajkumar aptly and sincerely portrays the lawyer Shahid Azmi and delivers a convincing performance. The filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia appears as an actor in this flick and renders the role of an eminent lawyer. Dhulia looks impactful and strong-minded lawyer, thereby leaving a memorable impression on audience's mind. The ace actors like Kay Kay Menon and Vipin Sharma essay their role with full excellence like always.

The other starcast like Prabhleen Sandhu, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Baljinder Kaur and Jayant Gadekar provide ample justice to their respective roles.

Music: Being an intense and serious drama, the movie had nothing to do with the music factor. However, the background score went hand in hand with the flow of the story, enhancing the beauty of the narrative.

Final Verdict: Those who are looking to quench their thirst of entertainment, don't go for this. But, if you are the one, who is in pursuit of some sensible tale with some evoking moments to watch, you can surely opt for this one. In all, a brave and brilliant work by the director Hansal Mehta, who touches the right chord of a movie-buff with an intense taste.