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Published 18:35 IST, February 11th 2020

Hansal Mehta honours Shahid Azmi on 10 years of his assassination, expresses gratitude

Hansal Mehta honoured Shahid Azmi on 10 years of his assassination. The director, who made Shahid starring Rajkummar, called him 'defence for the defenceless.'

Reported by: Joel Kurian
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Shahid was a breakthrough film in both Rajkummar Rao and Hansal Mehta’s careers. The former won the National Award for Best Actor and the latter for the Best Director, amid tremendous acclaim throughout. The reason the hit actor-filmmaker duo earned those laurels was because of the late lawyer Shahid Azmi, on whom the movie was based on.

READ: Rajkummar Rao Takes On The Role Of A PT Teacher In Hansal Mehta's 'Chhalaang'

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While the film has completed over seven years, the assassination of Shahid Azmi has now completed 10 years. As the event completed 10 years on Tuesday, Mehta gave a heartfelt tribute to Azmi. Sharing the lawyer’s photograph along with the character he created in Shahid, played by Rajkummar Rao, called him the ‘voice for the voiceless’ and ‘defence for the defenceless.’ 

READ: Why Is It In Bad Taste?: Hansal Mehta Defends Slamming Delhi Cops Over JNU With Condom Ad

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Hansal Mehta also wrote that Shahid had left the world ‘fighting injustice’ by becoming a part of the system that delivered justice. 

The Simran director expressed his gratitude to him for becoming an ‘indelible part’ of the lives of people. 

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Shahid Azmi had become a controversial lawyer after studying law during his seven-year imprisonment at the Tihar Jail. He was acquitted in the case of an alleged conspiracy to kill well-known politicians.  

Azmi had made headlines for defending the accused in cases like the 2002 Mumbai bus bombing, where he helped Arif Paanwala get acquitted, and 2006 Mumbai train bombings, the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul, and the 2006 Malegaon bombings case. 

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READ: Hansal Mehta Hits Out At Rahul Gandhi, Says People Have 'woken Up And Do Not Need You'

He was assassinated by two persons while he was defending an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Shahid Azmi was also the nephew of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi. 

READ: Hansal Mehta To Helm Series On Harshad Mehta Scam Titled 'Scam 1992'

18:35 IST, February 11th 2020