Hansal Mehta`s past inspires `Shahid` movie poster

Mumbai: The poster of upcoming film `Shahid` shows actor Rajkumar Yadav, who plays the role of slain lawyer Shahid Azmi, with a blackened face, an incident that director Hansal Mehta suffered in real life.

The poster is inspired from a scene in the film which shows Shahid Azmi being attacked by goons outside the court and his face is blackened but the incident is something that happened to Mehta in real life. In 2000, when Mehta released `Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar`, his office was vandalised and his face was blackened by Shiv Sena workers. Mehta decided to relive his personal horrors by including this scene in the movie. "Hansal has shown great emotional strength to relive the shock and insult and humiliation that he went through despite no fault of his own. It`s a brave decision on Hansal`s part to make a poster on this incident from his personal life. He is not an afraid man," a source close to the director said. `Shahid`, slated to release on October 18, has found supporters like Aamir Khan in the film fraternity. In an earlier interview, Mehta had said that the movie reflected his anger at being targetted like that. "I somehow feel vindicated with the positive reception of the film. It also voices my angst. I am a filmmaker, I needed the right story to voice my anger and `Shahid` is that story." PTI