Thirteen years after its theatrical release, Hansal Mehta's National Award-winning film Shahid has finally arrived on a streaming platform — and the milestone has prompted its writer-editor Apurva M Asrani to ask a pointed question about why the acclaimed film waited so long.
Starring Rajkummar Rao, Shahid is now streaming on Prime Video. Taking to X on September 28, Asrani wrote that it had "taken 13 years for our film to find a streaming home," and reflected on the film's journey since its release.
A story about courage — and a long silence
Shahid tells the story of Shahid Azmi, a lawyer who defended people accused under terror laws and fought for due process in a climate where, in Asrani's words, Muslims were often presumed guilty before being proven innocent. Azmi was murdered in 2010 for that courage.
Asrani wondered publicly why the film remained without a streaming platform for so long. Noting that the film "was released a year before 2014," he wrote that what followed was a political climate in which dissenters, activists, journalists and those defending the rights of the accused "increasingly found themselves under suspicion" — pointing, among other examples, to people like Umar Khalid spending years in prison awaiting trial.
He also reflected on the wider industry: filmmakers, actors and writers drawn to similar stories either struggled to get such films made or were "co-opted by the system" into telling what he described as "kosher" stories — films he said won National Awards due to political conformity despite what he called their mediocrity.
"Is there growing resistance to the politics of fear?"
"So why now? Why does a film like Shahid finally find a streaming platform in 2026? Has the mood changed? Is there growing resistance to the politics of fear?" Asrani asked, signing off with pride in the film: "Watch it if you haven't. Watch it again if you have."
The observations are Asrani's own reading of the film's history, and streaming platforms have not commented publicly on the timing. Shahid premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012, released theatrically in October 2013, and won Best Actor for Rao and Best Director for Mehta at the 61st National Film Awards. The screenplay was written by Sameer Gautam Singh and Asrani, and the film co-starred Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Prabhleen Sandhu and Baljinder Kaur.
Sources: Hindustan Times, Free Press Journal, Moneycontrol
Starring Rajkummar Rao, Shahid is now streaming on Prime Video. Taking to X on September 28, Asrani wrote that it had "taken 13 years for our film to find a streaming home," and reflected on the film's journey since its release.
A story about courage — and a long silence
Shahid tells the story of Shahid Azmi, a lawyer who defended people accused under terror laws and fought for due process in a climate where, in Asrani's words, Muslims were often presumed guilty before being proven innocent. Azmi was murdered in 2010 for that courage.
Asrani wondered publicly why the film remained without a streaming platform for so long. Noting that the film "was released a year before 2014," he wrote that what followed was a political climate in which dissenters, activists, journalists and those defending the rights of the accused "increasingly found themselves under suspicion" — pointing, among other examples, to people like Umar Khalid spending years in prison awaiting trial.
He also reflected on the wider industry: filmmakers, actors and writers drawn to similar stories either struggled to get such films made or were "co-opted by the system" into telling what he described as "kosher" stories — films he said won National Awards due to political conformity despite what he called their mediocrity.
"Is there growing resistance to the politics of fear?"
"So why now? Why does a film like Shahid finally find a streaming platform in 2026? Has the mood changed? Is there growing resistance to the politics of fear?" Asrani asked, signing off with pride in the film: "Watch it if you haven't. Watch it again if you have."
The observations are Asrani's own reading of the film's history, and streaming platforms have not commented publicly on the timing. Shahid premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012, released theatrically in October 2013, and won Best Actor for Rao and Best Director for Mehta at the 61st National Film Awards. The screenplay was written by Sameer Gautam Singh and Asrani, and the film co-starred Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Prabhleen Sandhu and Baljinder Kaur.
Sources: Hindustan Times, Free Press Journal, Moneycontrol
