Review: You stay invested here because the material at hand combines India’s two religions-cricket and films. Of course, this generation would rather see biopics on MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli. But, to give the devil his due, Azhar was an idol in the 80-90s. The film traces the rise of a prodigy born into a modest Muslim household in Hyderabad. As early as his 20s, he goes on to become one of the most accomplished Indian batsman and a paisa-vasool fielder.
Touching on Azhar’s blazing test journey prophesied by his maternal grandfather (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), who tells him that he should invest in the flick of the wrist, not futile conversations, we are shown how the Muslim boy with `Mohammad’ in his name, becomes an overnight rage after he slams back-to-back centuries. It is interesting to see how cricketers like Ravi (Gautam), Manoj (Karanvir) and Navjot (Manjot) who patronize him initially, later resent his rise as the Indian captain. The trappings of fame also rock his personal life. He strays from his arranged marriage to Naureen(Prachi) to an extra-marital affair with a Bollywood actress, Sangeeta(Nargis). And if that is not all, his career is threatened by a match-fixing allegation that forces him to take legal recourse.
His desire to play a hundred tests remains a pipe dream because he is banned after his 99th nine. Without giving away too much, here one must add that the court-room drama with Reddy (Kunal) defending him and Meera (Lara) against him, is partly banal, partly an eye-opener. Emraan bears no physical resemblance to Azharruddin. However his mannerisms—the blinking of his eyes and swagger add to a knockout performance.
Watch Azhar for him.
Also read this film's review in Telugu: ‘అజహర్’
In-depth Analysis
Our overall critic’s rating is not an average of the sub scores below.
Spoiler alert! Please do not read the following plot summary if you have not seen the film.
The story begins in Hyderabad on February 8, 1963 where Azhar is born to modest parents. His nanu dotes on him and from his childhood he shows signs of becoming a good batsman. By the time he is 20, he travels to Mumbai for selection to play professional cricket. Unfortunately his nanu dies before he can see Azhar bat for India. But Azhar is determined to make his grandpa proud. The slick of his wrists and his style make him get three back to back centuries. Overnight he is India's most famous hero.
He marries Naureen(Prachi) and they have two boys. However, the passion in their marriage dies and eventually on a trip to London, he finds himself drawn to Sangeeta Bijlani with whom he shoots for an ad film.
Sangeeta is against dating him because he is a married man. But both cannot keep away from one another.
When Naureen learns of his affair she distances herself from Azhar and Azhar eventually moves in with Sangeeta.
However around the mid 90s a match-fixing scandal shakes the cricketing world. Hansie Cronje, the South African cricketer says Azhar has taken a bribe of one crore from a bookie called M K Sharma aka Shawn to fix the Jubilee Cup Matches.
The CCI bars Azhar from playing cricket for a lifetime. However Azhar is determined to clear his name. He asks his lawyer friend Reddy(Kunal Roy Kapur) to represent him. However he refuses to call his wife or Sangeeta as witnesses to clear his name. He finds himself standing alone as no cricketer comes forward to help him. The lawyer fighting against him is a London Law student called Meera(Lara Dutta).
Meera says she herself was a huge Azhar fan. However with his match-fixing he has hurt the sentiments of hundreds of thousands of cricket lovers across India and the world and she feels he must pay a price for it. She vows to strip him of his glory.
The court case goes on for almost eight to nine and in 2008; Azhar is exonerated from his `crime' because there is not enough evidence against him.
At a crowded press conference he tells the world that he was scheduled to play 100 test matches. He could only complete 99; but the court case was the hundredth one. It was no less than a test match.
TRIVIA
1. People are saying that the film is a little partial to Azharuddin as it almost absolves him from the charges.
2. After Emraan was finalised, he worked with Azhar’s son Asaduddin to get right the former cricketer’s body language, batting style and other nuances.
3. At first, Emraan refused to read the script as Azhar had disapproved the first draft. Only after the cricketer approved the final did the actor read it, a year later.
4. This is the first time Emraan is playing a cricketer and working with Nargis, while he has previously paired with Prachi in Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai.
5. Nargis found reshooting the kissing scenes with Emraan ‘ridiculous’.
6. Rumours were rife that Sangeeta was upset with the way she was portrayed in the film. Emraan has been quoted saying that even Azhar was worried about it. Fortunately, the actress had no issues.
7. Pritam was signed on first to compose the soundtrack, but due to health issues, he was unable to meet deadline. He and DJ Chetas have composed one song each while Amaal Mallik has created three tracks.
8. Producer Ekta Kapoor earlier had names like Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh on her mind for the lead role.
9. Mohammad Azharuddin was apprehensive about his life's story being made into a film and took a lot of convincing.
10. Superhit song 'Oye Oye' from the 1989 film 'Tridev' was recreated for the film.
- What is the release date of 'Azhar'?
Release date of Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai starrer 'Azhar' is 2016-05-13. - Who are the actors in 'Azhar'?
'Azhar' star cast includes Emraan Hashmi, Prachi Desai, Lara Dutta and Nargis Fakhri. - Who is the director of 'Azhar'?
'Azhar' is directed by Tony D Souza. - What is Genre of 'Azhar'?
'Azhar' belongs to 'Drama, Biography, Sport' genre. - In Which Languages is 'Azhar' releasing?
'Azhar' is releasing in Hindi.