'Azhar': 5 statements of Emraan that prove his dedication towards the biopic

Tomorrow, the 13th of May holds a lot of importance for actor Emraan Hashmi. The highly anticipated film, ‘Azhar’, a biopic on the life of former Indian cricket team captain Mohammad Azharuddin will hit screens. Produced by Balaji Telefilms and helmed by Tony D’ Souza, Emraan has put in a lot of effort to perfect the titular role. Azharuddin, who was touted as one of the most successful captains of Indian team, has lived a life which is nothing less than a soap opera. Given the subject of the film, Emraan has high hopes from the film and he should pray too that his hopes come true. The past few years have had dry spell for Emraan at the box office, his last hit being the 2012 horror film, Raaz 3. The team of ‘Azhar’ have left no stone unturned to promote the movie. It was during these media interactions, that reel Azhar Emraan doled out secrets about the movie and his role which prove that he has put a lot into the movie. Here are 5 of his statements for you

On why he took a break from erotic thriller which helped him gain stardom- “I wanted to do new things and started getting different characters for my films. And then there were films like ‘Jannat’, ‘Shanghai’ and ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’. So yes, I agree there were makers who took risks with me. I call it ‘risk’ because the industry likes to conform. Directors want actors to conform because they are scared. They work with the mindset, ‘Yehi Chal Raha Hai Toh Yehi Karte Raho’. But there is a need to think from on an individual level. Creative satisfaction is as important as enjoying the process of film making.”

On why he chose ‘Azhar’- “Azhar isn’t just one of those films that are fine to be novel or different. It is a dream come true for me as I love films that have their roots deeply entrenched in facts and reality. In ‘Azhar’ I play someone who is alive, whom I can study and also admire a lot. But to be playing someone with whom people have an association, can relate to, is both risky and interesting.”

On how he perfected the role of the ace batsman- “Azharuddin was flawless when it came to playing wristy strokes and leg glance. So yes, I was prepared to learn of all it to do justice to the role. I had to practice for 3 months to understand all of that. But Azharuddin was coached me right from the beginning. Since he is a wristy player, and I am very stiff, I had to quit the weight training and opt for yoga.”

On critics and getting bad reviews- “My quest was never to slam critics. I frankly didn’t even get down to reading so many reviews back then because I understood that I was touching upon a genre that will get me this kind of backlash. But I also feel that we all are busy making films that conform to our family dramas, comedies and genres that are well accepted in our culture. But there is hypocrisy in this too, because back then if you’d take the DVD of ‘Basic Instinct’, watch it and it would still be fine. But it was blasphemous if somebody said they were taking the DVD of ‘Murder’.”

On controversies surrounding ‘Azhar’- “All these controversies were expected and I think when they will see the film all these speculation can go either ways. It could make things or worse or it could make them feel that they were over—reacting. This film is predominantly about the court case, match-fixing, cricket world. Stories of cricket that we have unheard of and narrated by the man himself. And then there are stories about his relationships. Like you saw in trailer, this is the story of a man and his relationship with his God, two wives and three match fixing allegations.”