SPOILER ALERT. Mohammad Azharuddin, was one of the most successful captain of Indian national cricket team, and he played 99 test matches in his life till he was accused of Match fixing, the allegations made by the then most successful South African captain Hansie Cronje, who himself was one accused. He got banned for life by ICC & BCCI, later on he fought in court and the court removed the ban citing lack of evidences.
The latest movie AZHAR is a biopic on Mohammad Azharuddin, and the story developed on the view of him, as he was the man behind the sources. The movie starts with Azhar(played by Emran Hashmi) playing his 99th test match when he got the news of allegations, he was stopped by immediate effect to play any further. And then he decided to challenge the ban imposed on him by Cricket Association of India, his case was taken by his friend Reddy(Kunal Roy Kapoor), against him is one of his biggest fan, lawyer Meera(Lara Dutta). The movie which started on a high note, continued on the same track till the end, interval and climax becoming the other peak points. The movie is interspersed between the past and present scenes, where we come to know about his personal life off the field and other players who become friends and foes in his life like - Ravi Shastri(Gautam Gulati), Navjot Singh Sidhu(Manjot Singh), Manoj Prabhakar(Karanvir Sharma, one of the villainious character), Kapil Dev(Varun Badola), Azhar’s nana(Kulbhushan Kharbanda), Naureen(Prachi Desai, played Azhar’s 1st wife), Sangeeta Bijlani(2nd wife and lover, played by Nargis Fakhri), & bookie MK Sharma(played by Rajesh Sharma).
The movie is really very very well made, I was not expecting it to be that good, I was expecting it to be a regular drama affair, but Tony D’Souza, the director of movie, held the film together, and not one moment felt bored, starting is wonderful, movie poised nicely at the interval, and ended well, interspersed with present and past scenes. Movie looks real to the soul, since all names used are real, but just so that nobody make any allegations on film makers, they have only used 1 name of the characters, like Ravi Shashtri was only called Ravi, Manoj Prabhakar as just Manoj. But yes, all the real names are used, and the movie is made on Azhar’s view. The movie is brilliantly supported by background score(Sandeep Shirodkar). Though songs are just okay(Amaal Malik, Pritam) and it also contains the remix version of’Oye oye’ song from Tridev movie(Sangita Bijlani was the actress in the song).
Now I must tell you the best part of the movie - EMRAN HASHMI, he has so truly copied Azhar’s style, that he looked just like azhar. His walking style, batting style, his mannerisms, all matched, his white helmet, his flicks, and his straight collars. Watch this movie for him. But one more actor shows his metal - Kunal Roy Kapoor, he brilliantly played the role of south Indian lawyer Reddy, he had the south indian style of talking, and he got an old look with bald heads, so suiting to his character, and he played very well, then there are other actors like Gautam Gulati, Rajesh Sharma who all played their roles nicely. One more thing I will point out here is the real locales, the matches shown look real, they shots in Lords, Oval, Edgbaston cricket grounds.
All-in-all its a good movie to watch, not sure if you want to believe Azhar’s version or not about the match-fixing, but yes he won the court case against his lifetime ban, as per movie he got introduced to the bookie by Jay(probably Ajay Jadeja). I rate the movie 4/5.
GRuchirG.
Jai Raam ji ki:)