Vivek Agnihotri has roped in Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakraborty for his eagerly anticipated The Tashkent Files. Agnihotri announced the film on the death anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the former Prime Minister who died under mysterious circumstances in Tashkent on January 11, 1966.

The Tashkent Files, the country’s first crowd-sourced thriller, will revolve around the sudden death of Shastri. Agnihotri had earlier taken to social media, asking audiences to share their views on Shastri using the hashtag #WhoKilledShashtriji.

“As a citizen, it is our democratic right to know if our second Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastriji died a natural death, or, as alleged, was it an assassination? I am trying to delve further into this mystery,” he said.

On the casting, he said: “Both Naseeruddin and Mithun are powerhouses and were obvious choices.”