A Wasted Talent. Review on Azhar

A biopic on the life of former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin.

In recent times, we have seen good films capturing the lives of great sports personalities. ‘Mary Kom’ and ‘Bhag Milkha Bhag’  were not only inspiring but the characters stood out as heroes who fought all odds and emerged victorious in spite of unfavorable circumstances.  Azhar, in contrast does not offer any inspiration but the movie exposes the poor judgement of a highly successful cricketer who could not control his sexual passion and desires and goes astray.  If he is under the impression that the movie would clear his murky past, earn empathy from the viewers and win back his lost glory then I am sorry, it fails in its purpose. With 11 teams, 150 players and Hansie naming only Azhar, the dramatic climax showing Azhar as the hero is unconvincing and his acquittal due to lack of evidence appears frail.

Story: Azhar(Emraan Hashmi) is visioned by his grandfather as a great cricketer and guides him to his goal. Azhar’s grandfather instills in him a dream that he would one day play 100 Test matches for India.  His mentoring echoes in Azhar’s mind at all times that mere words may impact a few but a successful batsman can impact the whole world. Azhar moves on to become one of India’s most successful cricket Captains who is well recognized for 3 things – his belief in God, his two marriages and his three consecutive test centuries.  While the bookies are on the lookout for a break to entice a player, they find their target. Azhar gets entangled into a match fixing controversy which earns him a life ban on playing cricket.

Pros: Kapil Dev’’s pep talk to Azhar on how to manage the team’s insubordination.  Azhar countering Javed Miandad’s comments on Pakistan being invincible in matches played on Fridays. Prachi Desai looked graceful as Naureen(Azhar’s first wife). Lara Dutta as lawyer fighting the case against Azhar was impressive. The songs peppered with meaningful lyrics suited the occasion. The dialogues were well written and skillfully delivered by the cast.

Cons: Nargis Fakhri as Sangeeta Bijlani was disappointing. Her acting appeared superficial and had no depth in her character.  Emran is a fine actor and was successful in imitating certain traits of Azhar but overall did not resemble the cricketer even remotely.  The editing had its flaws. The transition from flashback to present and vice versa lacked finesse and was confusing at times. The direction, screenplay and cinematography appeared ordinary and lacked skills.

Conclusion: There was no definite purpose to the script and the disclaimer at the start of the movie that the film may not be the actual representation of Azhar's actual life, kills the interest of the viewer who was there to watch a true story. Thus, there was no effort to deliver an impacting screenplay. The Azhar - Sangeeta romance was bland and unconvincing. Azhar's attempt to portray himself as the hero was counterproductive. In the end, the narrative leaves it to the viewer to decide if they should love him, hate him or judge him. Overall, the movie does not offer anything of value in return for your time and money except that it only exposes the cricketer’s folly, roving eyes for glamour and fall from grace. It also exposes the easily compromised commitment of a top model who hated cricketers and married men but eventually marries one.

Watch it only if you are a fan of Azhar.