Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun to act in film on Lal Bahadur Shastri’s mysterious death

A year ago news about Vivek Agnihotri’s next being based on the mysterious death of India’s second prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri surfaced. Today, the filmmaker announced that the film will star Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakraborty.

Titled The Tashkent Files, the announcement was made on the occasion of the 52nd death anniversary of Shastri.

Speaking about the need for the film, Agnihotri said in an official statement, “As a citizen, it is our democratic right to know if our second prime minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastriji died a natural death, or, as alleged, was it an assassination? I am trying to delve further into this mystery through The Tashkent Files.”

Shastri died in 1966 in Tashkent soon after signing the Tashkent Pact with Pakistan. The official cause for his death is cardiac arrest. However, many, including Shastri’s family, believe that he was killed. In fact, his doctor, Dr RB Chugh had reportedly said that Shastri had had no heart issues.

Shockingly, Chugh was killed after being run over by a truck just when he was about to depose in the case in front of the parliamentary committee in 1977. That’s not all, Ram Nath, Shastri’s domestic help, too, was hit by a vehicle when he was about to depose in front of the committee. He was left disabled and suffered memory loss.

Justifying his reason for casting the two actors, the director added, “Both, Naseeruddin and Mithun are powerhouses and were obvious choices for the film. This film also brings them together onscreen after a long time. The two are extremely excited about the project and I am sure the audience will be waiting to see them in this new avatar.”