Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri , who had last year announced a film revolving around India's second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, has signed veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakraborty to play pivotal roles in his movie. Though nothing much is known about the film, reports claim that it investigates the mysterious death of the leader in 1966 in Uzbekistan after signing the Tashkent declaration with Pakistan.

Confirming the news, Agnihotri says, "Shastriji's death has been a big mystery and there have been a lot of theories around it. There are two narratives to any controversy. I wanted to narrate the two sides of the story to the audience, and thought who better than Naseerji and Mithunji?"

While every filmmaker wants to rope in a star to increase the commercial value of their films, Vivek has gone for talented actors, not stars. "I have done my casting on merit. I was sure that I didn't want to rope in a star for commercial reasons."

The film starts rolling next week.