Rajkummar Rao has created a niche for himself due to his versatility and unique choice of stories. Since his debut with ‘Love Sex Aur Dhoka’ in 2010, he has continued impressing with his performances in films like ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ (2012), ‘Kai Po Che’ (2013), ‘Trapped’ (2016), ‘Newton’ (2017), ‘Stree’ (2018), etc. Whether in romantic, action, thriller, or biopics, Rao has delivered impactful performances back-to-back. Even in his recent film, Netflix’s ‘Monica, O My Darling’ (2022), Rao has shown his phenomenal side in the dark comedy space.
Same goes with ‘Shahid’ (2013). Within two years of debuting in the industry, Rajkummar gave an exceptional performance in the film, which made him win the National Award for Best Actor the same year.
As expected, Rajkummar Rao expressed his deep emotions for ‘Shahid’ with his fans. Recently in a conversation with IMDb, Rao recalled his work in the film and shared that ‘Shahid’ will always remain the most special one for him not only because he won National Award, but for various other reasons.
Rao said, “ ‘Shahid’ is certainly one of the most special films of my career. It has given me so many things and I’m not just speaking about the accolades I received for my performance, but meeting Hansal Mehta Sir, who is more like a family now. It’s amazing to see the knowledge and sensitivity with which he approached the biopic. ‘Shahid’ being my first biopic, I learned a lot from the film.”
As we all know, ‘Shahid’ is based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist, Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated by four assailants in his office in Kurla, Mumbai at the age of 32 in February, 2010. Therefore, Rao shared that how it was challenging for him to play a real-life character on screen, as he was doing it for the first time. He said, “It was a small budget film, but all we had was passion and the fire to tell a story with utmost sincerity, and that’s what we were aiming for.”
While recalling his interaction with Shahid Azmi’s mother, he shared, “I remember when Shahid’s mother came to meet us during the initial days of the shoot, and she just kept looking at me because I reminded her of Shahid, her son, and then she asked for a pen, and she gave me a pen.”
