May 14, 2016 02:11 PM
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Biopics on controversial personalities can be very exciting. And if that person is a cricketer and that too of a stature of Mohammed Azharuddin, then nothing like it. After all, he has been loved for his work on field and hated equally after he was involved in the match fixing scandal. The promos looked interesting and everything seemed to be going in the film's favour. Alas, the film disappoints a lot thanks to the incoherent script and a narrative that leaves one guessing as to'what just happened and why'!
The story of the movie: Azhar Mohd(Emraan Hashmi) is a lad from Hyderabad who, inspired by his nanu's(Kulbhushan Kharbanda) words and passion, makes it big in the field of cricket. He gets married to the beautiful and homely Naureen(Prachi Desai) but soon falls for the Bollywood actress Sangeeta(Prachi Desai). On the other hand, he is sacked after his name emerges in the match fixing scandal. Everyone shows his back to him. But Azhar decides to fight and moves court.
Azhar begins well and though it never turns extraordinary at any point, it engages viewers nicely. The pace is great and the back and forth narrative at times makes it difficult to join the dots but it adds to the intrigue value. The romantic portions between Azhar and Naureen are sweet. The intermission point does catch one's attention. The first half has some rough edges and one hopes that it will get better in the second half. Alas, it doesn't and in fact gets worse at places. The courtroom portions are the weakest scenes in the film though in the end, some portions are unexpected. These scenes are very filmy. Agreed that this is a commercial film but the courtroom scenes and the arguments that take place between the warring parties appear childish and very unconvincing. The film is just 131 minutes long but doesn’t delve into any aspect of Azhar’s life properly. It just touches on some aspects and doesn't go deep into it. Hence, one doesn’t quite empathize with him or even root for him because one just doesn’t feel that connected to him. Moreover, several answers are left unanswered. Why was Azhar targeted – why were other players angry with him? How was Sangeeta responsible for his downfall? How would Naureen and Sangeeta have helped the case? What took so long for simple facts to emerge in the court? The twist in the end is nice but to imagine that the makers added something like this in a biopic is quite a shocker!
Performance wise, Emraan Hashmi as always scores a sixer! He is a completely changed man out here and it’s evident that he has worked hard to get into the skin of the character. He looks totally convincing as a cricket player and that’s his biggest victory. After Awarapan and Shanghai, this is surely one of his best performances ever! Prachi Desai sparkles in a supporting role – wish she had more screen time. Nargis Fakhri makes a late entry. She looks dazzling but hardly has much to do in the movie. Lara Dutta(Meera) is damn good as the sophisticated lawyer. Kunaal Roy Kapur(Reddy) irritates in some scenes but overall does well. Kulbhushan Kharbanda(Azhar’s grandfather) leaves a mark in a small role. Rajesh Sharma(M K Sharma) is good. Gautam Gulati(Ravi) makes an impact while Karanvir Sharma(Manoj) and Manjot Singh(Navjot) are okay. Others do a fine job.
Music is fine and is well placed. Bol Do Na Zara is the best followed by Oye Oye and Itni Si Baat. Sandeep Shirodkar’s background score enhances impact. Rakesh Singh’s cinematography is simple and neat, especially in the cricket scenes. Rajat Aroraa’s story is interesting and could have made for a brilliant biopic. His dialogues too are clapworthy. Initially it seems a bit odd that a biopic has such massy dialogues. But soon one realizes that it works because it’s Azhar after all who possibly could have mouthed such lines! Screenplay is good at few places but unconvincing overall. Tony Dsouza’s direction works in the sense that there’s lot of back and forth but the film never turns confusing, for most of the times. However, there are too many cinematic liberties and loads of unanswered questions that take the film down. Dsouza’s previous film Boss was terrific and here’s hoping the director gets back into that form with his next!
On the whole, Azhar could have been a great biopic. After all, the life of Mohammed Azharuddin makes for a great entertainer. The film however just touches on various incidents of his life and doesn’t go deep into it. Even the match fixing scandal, that forms a large chunk of the film, is not properly executed and several questions are left unanswered. A great performance by Emraan Hashmi, no doubt, but the film sadly fails to hit a six!
