Toss down

Confessedly this is no biopic of the man. Even as he walked into an auditorium many years ago in the midst of his active career he was referred to as the Pablo Picasso of Indian cricket. Today a disinterested audience, and many scandals later defy the sweltering heat to know the real story.

They return disappointed. Disappointed I guess more for not being told the whole truth and for not even making an effort and playing the start on the back foot. Decades after his civil appeal was allowed by the High Court and after the player has got quasi social acceptance, one would have thought that the outing would make up with honesty what it has lost in relevance.

Unfortunately the story is like the public image of the man: stylised, non-controversial and hesitant to take a strong stance. Even as a captain it was often said that he was too laidback and is stated to have gone on record that he did not believe in telling his colleagues how to play since they had reached a level where instructions were irrelevant.

The storyline is all too well known. The darling of the game, known for agility on the field, for his modesty off it, for the hat-trick hundreds, for his origins from Vithalwadi to the Lords and beyond, his marriage with a simple Hyderabadi Naureen (Prachi Desai), his subsequent love affair with Sangeeta Bijlani (Nargis Fakhri) and the famous Raj Singh query: Captain banoge are all too well documented.

They hardly require mention, hardly on celluloid more so when they fall short of intensity and novelty. The scenes get to be a tad too predictable. The storyline moves on the familiar known dots and the lines are not packed with the elegant wrist work that makes the great cricketer Azhar was.

Even the romance between the cricketer and the film star is a non-starter and leaves behind a very half baked tale. There are suggestions thrown broadside about the love the cricketer had for a stylish lifestyle, his weakness for watches and a pale defence of how he played the three matches at Rajkot, Nagpur and Bombay and how the allegations would not stick.

The one important point that the film makes is that his colleagues deserted him like mice would a sinking ship. Under currents of disagreement in the dressing room involving Manoj Prabhakar, Ravi Shastri is squeezed in without any fervour or passion.

The film is a sure disappointment to the Azhar critics. So is it a bigger disappointment to the fans who surely are legion. The artist cricketer who fell short of the hundred test mark surely deserved far better, as did the audience. This film is neither an expo on the international match fixing nor is about the anguish and agony of a great sportsman who suddenly woke up to summary rejection.

If anything the film is a subtle (too subtle!) hint at how the system (legal and investigative) failed. Who they failed also depends on which side of the controversy a person is willing to be stationed.

One positive aspect of the film is Emraan Hashmi who tries his very best to be the shy introvert that Azhar is. He tries very hard. Nargis puts in the right glamour quotient and the refusal to act a bit makes for a good Sangeeta. Like the game, the film does the great man injustice.

Film Name : Azhar

Cast : Emraan Hashmi, Prachi Desai and Nargis Fakhri
Direction : Tony D’Souza
Genre : Drama
Likes : The attempt to tell
Dislikes : Very insipid narrative

By L Ravichander