Shaheed (1965 film)

It is the year 1911 in British India, Sardar Kishan Singh and his family, including son Bhagat, are distressed when Kishan's brother, Ajit Singh, is arrested for agitating people against the British. He then mysteriously disappears after supposedly escaping from prison and is never heard from again. This makes a strong impression on young Bhagat Singh's mind. When he grows up, he joins the movement for freedom struggle headed by Chandrashekar Azad. In 1928, he sees that Lala Lajpat Rai is lathi-charged by the police for leading a protest march against Simon Commission and later succumbs to his injuries. Bhagat, Chandrashekar Azad, Rajguru, Sukhdev, and Jaigopal decide to avenge this by killing Assistant Superintendent J. P. Saunders. On 17th December, they shot him dead as he was leaving a local police station. After the assassination, Bhagat and others decide to leave Lahore to avoid being arrested by CID or the police. Bhagat changes his appearance to an Anglo-Indian gentleman and evades Lahore along with Azad and Rajguru.

4 months later, Bhagat Singh and comrade Batukeshwar Dutt explode a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi as an act of protest. Together with other freedom fighters, including Bhagat's best friend Sukhdev, they are arrested and prosecuted, then thrown in prison. They are detained in the jail at Lahore, where they are continually persecuted and tortured by the prison guards.

After seeing the maltreatment of Indian prisoners, Bhagat and his fellow freedom fighters announce a hunger strike, during which Jatindranath dies. The government gives in and agrees to change the way prisoners are treated. As the case in the killing of Saunders continues, Bhagat and his comrades give poignant speeches in the court condemning British imperialism. Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagwati Charan Vohra try to help the freedom fighters escape, but the attempt fails, and Bhagwati dies in the process. Chandrashekhar Azad subsequently kills himself (he vowed to never be captured alive) during his encounter with the British police in Alfred Park.

When the trial ends, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev are all given death sentences. Fearing public protests, the British secretly send Bhagat Singh and Rajguru to the gallows a day before they are officially supposed to be executed. The men shout: "Long live the Revolution!" just before they are executed.

• Manoj Kumar as Bhagat Singh
• Prem Chopra as Sukhdev Thapar
• Anant Marathe as Shivaram Rajguru
• Kamini Kaushal as Vidyavati Kaur Sandhu (Bhagat's mother)
• Nirupa Roy as Durga Bhabhi
• Sailesh Kumar as Chail Bihari
• Manmohan as Chandra Shekhar Azad
• Pran as Daku Kehar Singh
• Madan Puri as Major P. D. Chopra (Jailor of Lahore Central Jail)
• Asit Sen as Dhaniram
• Anwar Hussain as Jail Warden Chattar Singh
• Kamal Kapoor as Public Prosecutor Rai Bahadur Suryanarayan – Delhi
• Krishan Dhawan as Sardar Ajit Singh (Bhagat's uncle)
• D. K. Sapru as Sardar Kishan Singh Sandhu (Bhagat's father)
• Indrani Mukherjee as Susheela
• Iftekhar as Public Prosecutor, Lahore
• Raj Kishore as Jaigopal
• Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru as himself in a speech footage
• Mahatma Gandhi as himself in a speech footage
• Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad as himself in a speech footage
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as himself in a speech footage
• Sudhir as Yashwant (uncredited)

Music: Prem Dhawan, Lyricist: Prem Dhawan (except Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna by Bismil Azimabadi)

• Shaheed at IMDb