As we all know when such personalities support the film, its obvious to have a one sided opinion related to that tale. Thus, right since its announcement the expectations were sky high which mildly dropped down after the association of the cricketer himself. There have been many speculations and different versions related to this controversy. 'Azhar' revolves around the match fixing controversies related to the Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin. While most of these films were made keeping in mind the dramatic story line, now comes 'Azhar'. Our film makers instantly encashed on this new genre which involves high amount of curiosity attached to the real life of the star performer. So does the film.Farhan Akhtar's 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' opened the Pandora box for films based on the lives of sport personalities. As yet another stereotype of the South Indian in Bollywood, he irritates to the hilt. If that wasn't all there is also Kunaal Roy Kapur as Azhar's lawyer. Prachi and Nargis weep buckets when they are not being coy. In the name of acting you have Emraan being stiff, staring deep into the camera, looking far from his comfortable self.
And then there is Azhar's father's obsession with his underwear: the mandatory crass comedy track. Azharuddin's love for his grandfather becomes a way to draw out melodrama he gets selected in the national team just as granddad breathed his last. In that masala flick they seemed entertaining, here desperately out of place.
The lines, some of them utterly inane and vacuous, reminded me of heavy duty dialogues of Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. But what of Naureen (Prachi), the one who was wronged? When it comes to the craft, the film looks too outmoded in the way it has been mounted - the loud background score soaring over everything else and dialoguebaazi in the name of conversations. Even his walking away from an ostensibly fine marriage into the arms of actress Sangeeta Bijlani (Nargis) is turned into a soppy inevitability with him righteously mouthing lines like A broken relationships doesn't actually mean an end of it.
Sharma and what he did with the money is portrayed in such a way as to earn him some desperate brownie points. From his haughty fan-turned-prosecutor Mira (Lara Dutta) to the condescending owner of the gym that he inaugurates. Poor Azhar! Such is the eagerness to justify him that D'Souza makes it seem as though the whole bad world is out to get him. As though that wasn't enough you have Kapil tell Azhar It's the good-for-nothing kids who trouble the class monitor the most. Manoj is made to come across not just as jealous and vengeful but selfish, playing for himself than the country and crude and unrefined to boot. Such is the bias that the other players - Manoj, Ravi, Navjot (only first names, no surnames mind you) - get the wrong end of the stick. But instead of exploring the many shades of grey in him, Tony D'Souza attempts to defend and validate him. He is a man of frailties and shortcomings both on the field of cricket and in the arena of love. He fell from favour just as fast because of his covetousness and his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal that rocked cricket. A man, who rose meteorically because of his game, the way he let his bat do all the talking on the field. Azharuddin (Emraan) is a fascinating character to have built a dispassionate film on. All to escape the legal battles the film could land them in. It is evident in the long disclaimer preceding the film in which the team seems to be making a claim on cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin's colourful and controversial life as a source material yet maintaining that it is a fictional account.
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