Prosenjit's role in 'Shanghai' based on Greek politician

"In the 1948 Olympics, he had got a long jump silver medal and after that he got into politics. But he had an image like that of a film star in his country," said director Dibakar Banerjee.

Releasing next month, the political thriller is based on 'Z', a 1966 novel by Vassilis Vassilikos on the outrage in Greece following the killing of Lambrakis.

France-based Greek filmmaker Costa Gavras too had made a film by the same name on the novel three years later, where French actor Yves Montand had played the part of the Lambrakis.

"Prosenjit is France's Montand. The original character is based on the real-life character of that Greek politician," Banerjee said.

Prosenjit plays a firebrand political activist by the name of Dr Ahmedi, around whose death the film is based.

"He is a social activist, but his charisma is nothing less than that of a star. Being attractive and sexy, wherever he goes, people gather around him. He manges to convince people and is a good speaker, so people listen to him," said the director. (MORE) PTI NIK MD

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