Playing Shahid was difficult

Rajkumar Rao, who won the best actor National award for his role in 'Shahid', says portraying the slain lawyer-activist's life was challenging but inspiring. The actor's performance as the titular character in the film won him the National award. "It has been an exciting year. I am proud of ‘Shahid’. His family is really proud of him for what he stood for. I feel bad for his unfortunate and tragic death. But I was very inspired and moved by his story. This will forever stay in my heart as he stood for what he believed in," Rao said. However, playing Shahid in the biopic was not an easy task for the actor. "It was quite challenging and difficult. There was not enough material on him on the internet. My only source of information was his family. There was so much that I had to put through my imagination which I think has worked," he said. After the huge success of his last movie 'Queen', the actor is reuniting with Mehta for 'City Lights'. In the film, the actor plays a small town trader from a village in Rajasthan, who migrates to Mumbai in search of better livelihood. The movie follows his struggle in adjusting to the metropolitan city. Rajkumar had to shed 7-8kgs for the role.