Rajkummar Rao’s Shahid ‘languishing in some big corporate’s rotting safety vault’: Hansal Mehta

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta has once again expressed disappointment for his 2013 film Shahid not finding any takers among the many streaming platforms. He tweeted about the film ‘languishing in some big corporate’s safety vault’. Incidentally, his tweet comes on the occasion of Rajkummar Rao’s 38th birthday, who played the titular role in the film. Also read: Step inside Rajkummar Rao’s minimalist house

A fan had shared a few screenshots of the film on Twitter. Reacting to them, Hansal tweeted on Wednesday, “A film languishing in some big corporate’s rotting safety vault. The original film stands mutilated in its YouTube version.”

Released in 2013, Shahid is not available on any OTT platform right now. It was based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010. Rajkummar played the lead role, while Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub played the role of his brother, Arif Azmi.

In February this year as well, Hansal had said that he was unaware about who owns the rights of the film. He called it a personal tragedy that it is nowhere available for an audience to see. He had tweeted, “Sad that Shahid is not on any OTT platform. I have no idea who owns the rights to the film anymore and where it’s original version even is. It is a personal tragedy for me and for all those who toiled to make this film against all odds. It is a tragedy for Shahid Azmi.”

Again questioning its absence on OTT, he had tweeted, “Premiered at #TIFF2012, won two national awards, won numerous other awards, traveled the world and is rated 8.2 on IMDb. But NO TAKERS?” It is to be noted, Rajkummar Rao even won the National Film Award in best actor category and Hansal Mehta won the National Film Award in the best director category.