When Emraan became a stalker for Azhar

Actor Emraan Hashmi, who will be seen portraying former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin in the biopic ‘Azhar’, says he almost became a "stalker" for the film to get a hang of the cricketer's "gestures".

"Eventually I almost became a stalker; I used to stare him to copy all his gesture. I think I made his life hell for three-four months," Emraan said at the trailer launch of the film in Mumbai recently. The actor said that doing the film was a "tough journey".

"When we started actual shooting in London and Hyderabad, I was nervous because of the cricket portion. As Azhar bhai is a well-known personality, all have seen his mannerisms and nuances. So if something goes wrong to portray his character, there would have been a chance of a huge criticism. I had to keep that in mind and noted down even very minute things from how he walks to the way he eats," Emraan said.

Directed by Tony D'Souza, ‘Azhar’, a joint venture between Balaji Motion Pictures and MSM Motion Picture, also stars Prachi Desai, Lara Dutta and Huma Qureshi in pivotal roles. It is slated for a worldwide release on May 13, 2016.

The film will narrate the highs and lows of Azharuddin's life as the captain of the Indian cricket team for most of the 1990s and being tainted by a match-fixing scandal in 2000, and getting banned for life.