# 23rd March 1931: Shaheed

23rd March 1931: Shaheed is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language historical biographical film about Bhagat Singh, directed by Guddu Dhanoa which depicts the events leading up to the hanging of Singh and his companions Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar on 23 March 1931. The film stars Bobby Deol as Singh, his elder brother Sunny Deol as Chandra Shekhar Azad and Amrita Singh in her comeback role as Vidyavati Kaur (Singh's mother).
The film's release coincided with another film based on Bhagat Singh directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and titled The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Both films failed at the box office. But both the films gained a cult status.

## Plot

Set in the mid-1920s in British India, the film tells the story of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, who have only one motive in mind: freedom for India. They set about doing this task together with two other men, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Bhagat Singh is enraged when his mentor Lala Lajpat Rai is mercilessly beaten to death by the police, and he sets about to avenge his death. He and his colleagues do succeed in killing one of the officials responsible, but they are identified, and as a result, Bhagat and Rajguru are arrested and held in prison, where they are tortured relentlessly.
When produced in court, they dramatically admit to the killing and claim that it was done in the name of "freedom." The judge and the public prosecutor do not see it their way, and they are sentenced to life in prison. Bhagat's mother, Vidya, comes to meet him in prison, and he goes to greet her, shackled in chains from head to toe, and he foretells that India will continue to suffer, even after independence from the British, and that he will return in another birth to free his motherland. Subsequently, all three are charged with treason and assassination and are sentenced to death.

## Cast

* Bobby Deol as Bhagat Singh
* Sunny Deol as Chandra Shekhar Azad
* Amrita Singh as Vidyavati Kaur Sandhu, Bhagat's mother.
* Ranjan Koshal as Kishan Singh Sandhu, Bhagat's father.
* Rahul Dev as Sukhdev
* Vicky Ahuja as Shivram Hari Rajguru
* Vivek Shauq as Bhagwati Charan Vohra
* Aishwariya Rai as Mannewali (special appearance)
* Raja Bundela as Lala Lajpat Rai
* Divya Dutta as Durgawati Devi a.k.a. "Durga Bhabhi"
* Sachin Khedekar as Advocate Asaf Ali
* Vivek Kumar Rawat as Batukeshwar Dutt
* Suresh Oberoi as Jailor Chadda
* Shakti Kapoor as Chattar Singh
* Imran Khan as Kartar Singh Sarabha
* Akshay Anand as Ram Prasad Bismil
* Suresh Chatwal as Pandit Kishori Lal|Kishori Lal
* Deepak Sharma as Jatindra Nath Das a.k.a. "Jatin Das"
* Sanjay Tripathi as Hans Raj Vohra
* Raman Khatri as Ashfaqulla Khan
* Rana Jung Bahadur as Lawyer Ashish Verma
* Tej Sapru as Dilbagh Singh
* Indal Singh as Jai Gopal
* Samaresh Routray as Yashpal
* Rajesh Khera as Sardar Ajeet Singh, Bhagat's uncle.
* Manoj Tiwari as Veer Bhadra Tiwari

## Soundtrack

| # | Song | Singer(s) |
| 1 | "Mera Rang De Basanti Chola" | Udit Narayan, Bhupinder Singh, Veer Rajinder |
| 2 | "Deshnu Challo" | Hans Raj Hans |
| 3 | "Jogiya Ve" | Alka Yagnik |
| 4 | "Watanparaston Ki" | Hans Raj Hans, Veer Rajinder |
| 5 | "Pagadi Sambhal" | Veer Rajinder |
| 6 | "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" | Bhupinder Singh, Mohammad Salamat, Vinod Rathod |
| 7 | "Aye Watan" | Veer Rajinder |
| 8 | "Khush Raho" | Veer Rajinder |