Prem Chopra recalls filming in real prison for Shaheed, meeting death row inmates with Manoj Kumar: ‘PM Lal Bahadur Shastri came to the premiere…’

Narrating the story about the premiere, he continued, “It became a big hit. We had a premiere in Delhi, and Lal Bahadur Shastra was the chief guest. He said he could only stay for 15 minutes. But he was so mesmerised by the film, he didn’t get up. He loved it so much.” Afterwards, he told Manoj Kumar that he should make a film inspired by his ‘jai jawan jai kisan’ slogan and even offered the government’s aid. The actor ended up writing a story on the car ride back to Mumbai (he was terrified of flying).

Directed by S Ram Sharma, Shaheed won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, as well as the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. It was the first of Manoj Kumar’s series of patriotic films, and one of the few times that Prem Chopra played a positive character on screen. He eventually established himself as one of Bollywood’s most iconic villains.