New Delhi: Slowly and steadily, Rajkumar Yadav has made a place for himself in the Hindi film industry. Through films such as 'LSD', 'Ragini MMS', 'Shaitaan' and 'Kai Po Che', he has emerged as someone who can mould himself as per the director's requirements. He is now coming up with 'Shahid' which is based on the life of slain lawyer Shahid Azmi. Rajkumar talks about the reasons behind doing 'Shahid' in a candid conversation.
Shahid Azmi was an ideology driven activist and thus preparing to play him on-screen must have been a tough deal.
Shahid is a real life character and there is a responsibility when you portray a real character. I spent a lot of time with Shahid's family specially his younger brother and got to know him deeply through him. I wanted to understand his mental state, what was his thought process, ideology, how was he as a person. Then I used to go sit in courts for hours to observe lawyers, their working conditions and the functioning of the court. I also studied the basic of Islam to prepare for Shahid.
Do you think the audience is ready for a film like 'Shahid'?
Audience is very receptive these days they want to watch different films now. That's the reason films like 'The Lunchbox' and 'Ship of Theseus' are working and we have been making hard hitting films, be it 'Sarfarosh' or 'Garam Hawa', which worked at the box-office also.
You are banking too much on the audience.
Absolutely as I said earlier Audience these days are very educated. They are looking for films with content, films with a story and good performances and 'Shahid' has all the ingredients of being a complete film.
Of course, as an actor I want everyone to watch my film also because it's a really important film of our times. It makes us aware about so many things which have no idea about. I am very confident that we have made a really honest and beautiful film now it's in the audience's hand how they react to it. I am very neutral at this stage.
Is 'Shahid' predominantly a dark film?
'Shahid' is a complete package. It's a film which is really close to my heart. Something that I am really proud of as an artist. It's not dark at all it has a beautiful love story, it has humour, it has drama and people will connect to the film on a personal level.
You are doing 'Queen' also.
I have finished 'Queen' directed by Vikas Bahl which will be releasing in February and then m going to start a film with Mahesh Bhatt and Fox Studios which will be directed by Ajay Bahl of 'BA Pass' fame.
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