Azhar (2016)
Action, Biography, Drama, Sport
Nargis Fakhri, Prachi Desai, Varun Badola
The movie begins with Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin (Emraan Hashmi) scoring a century in his 99th test match, but he soon faces allegations of match-fixing as his name has been linked with a London based bookie. The India cricket board slaps a life-ban on him. Azhar decides to challenge the ban in court with the help of his lawyer friend Reddy (Kunaal Roy Kapoor).The story shifts to 1963, when Azhar was born to a middle-class family in Hyderabad. His grandfather (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) dreamed of Azhar playing 100 tests for Team India, and motivates a soft-spoken Azhar to answer his rivals with his batting skills. Young Azhar goes for an Indian team selection match to Mumbai, where on match day he receives news of his grandfather's death. Nonetheless, he participates in the match, in accordance with his grandfather's last wish. Azhar impresses the selectors, sealing his place in Team India, and he soon becomes national hero by scoring 3 consecutive centuries in his first 3 test innings. Azhar soon marries Naureen (Prachi Desai) and they both begin a happy married life.After a loss against Pakistan in 1991, the president of cricket broad calls Azhar for a one-on-one meeting. Azhar initially fears getting dropped from the team, but is surprised when he is offered the position of team captain. Some senior players,like Manoj, Ravi and Navjot, resent Azhar's appointment, not wishing to take orders from a younger player. But Kapil (Varun Badola) supports and encourages him to focus on his duty.While playing in an India-Pakistan match, Javed taunts Azhar, telling Azhar his Muslim heritage would be a better fit for the Pakistan team. Azhar leads his team to victory, and soon becomes a successful captain.
At peak of his career, Azhar's personal life takes a twist when he meets a former Miss India, Bollywood actress Sangeeta (Nargis Fakhri) during an ad film shoot and falls in love with her. They both begin dating but kept their relationship hidden, until it is exposed by a gossip magazine. Azhar then publicly announces his affair with Sangeeta. Heartbroken, Naureen asks him for a divorce, and soon Azhar leaves her to marry Sangeeta.During a cricket match against the West Indies, Azhar gets in a spat with Manoj for a slow run rate in order to complete his century, letting the team lose. Manoj is dropped from the next match and Azhar leads the team to victory. Manoj is humiliated and vows to take revenge. In later years of his career, Azhar famous for his expensive lifestyle, comes into the eyes of match-fixers. He is soon been approached by a London-based bookie disguised as a diamond merchant, who later offers him 1 Crore rupees to under play in a match against Sri Lanka, which Azhar hesitantly accepts.In a parallel story, after the match-fixing scandal, Azhar is now facing nationwide criticism and a London-based prosecutor, Meera (Lara Dutta), is building up a strong case against him on the basis of sting operations done by Manoj on Ravi, Navjot and several other cricketers. She also uses the report of the inquiry commission set up by the cricket board and secretly meets bookie M. K. Sherma to gather more evidence.Meera also approaches Naureen, asking her to serve as a witness, but she refuses. Meanwhile, Azhar and his lawyer Reddy are struggling to find any proof of innocence as none of his fellow cricketers are ready to help him out. Azhar attends a gym-opening ceremony to gain back his old fame in public, but is left insulted by the owner himself.
After a long, eight-year legal fight, Reddy finally makes a breakthrough by proving in court that the inquiry commission report is biased, as they were paid by cricket board itself. Reddy even challenges the authenticity of sting operation tapes as none of the witness was under oath and can not be treated as truth. Later, Azhar also reveals that he took 1 Crore rupees from the bookie to keep him away from other team members but later scored a match winning innings and returned all the money.On the final day of judgment both Naureen and Sangeeta attend the court hearing, showing their support for Azhar. Kapil also states in a television interview that he believes Azhar is innocent. In its final verdict, the court declares Azhar innocent and free from all match-fixing allegations due to lack of evidence. Azhar once again proudly walks out of the court with his head high and name cleared from all scandals.
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- 2016-05-13 Released:
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