Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 24, 2014)

Manjunath Shanmugam's story as been adapted on screen by ad filmmaker-turned-director Sandeep Verma. The film, bankrolled by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and NFDC, also features actress Divya Dutta. Delhi-based rock band Parikrama will compose the music. It has been extensively shot in UP, with some portions filmed at the Lucknow IIM campus.

Asked what triggered him to make the film nine years after Manjunath’s death, the director says, "We look to create heroes in our movies and here was a ‘real life hero’ – an ordinary young man yet extraordinary because he refused to cow down to the corrupt.”  

ABOUT MANJUNATH SHANMUGAM
An alumnus of IIM-Lucknow, Manjunath was posted at Lakhimpur as manager with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). He was shot dead by a petrol pump owner and his henchmen when he sealed their pump for selling adulterated oil. The owner, Pawan Kumar Mittal, was sentenced to death by the Sessions Court, while the other seven accused got life on March 26, 2007. IOC paid Rs 26 lakh as compensation.