Azhar

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Tony D'Souza is the director of the 2016 Indian Hindi sports drama biopic film Azhar. Mohammad Azharuddin, a former captain of India's cricket team, served as an inspiration for the narrative. Emraan Hashmi plays the title character in the Sony Pictures Networks production, which is overseen by Shobha and Ekta Kapoor. It also stars Lara Dutta, Kunaal Roy Kapoor, Prachi Desai, Gautam Gulati, Manjot Singh and Rajesh Sharma, among others, in important roles.

The movie opens with Indian cricketer Azhar making a hundred in his 99th test match, but soon he is accused of manipulating games after his name was connected to bookmaker M.K. Sharma, also known as Shaun, who works out of London. He receives a life ban from Indian cricket. With the aid of his lawyer friend Reddy, Azhar decides to appeal the ban in court.

The action goes back to 1963 when Azhar was born in Hyderabad to a secure middle-class family. Azhar's grandfather inspired the soft-spoken young Azhar to challenge his opponents with his batting prowess by dreaming of Azhar completing 100 tests for Team India. The young Azhar travels to Mumbai for a match to pick the Indian squad, and on the day of the match, he learns the sad news of his grandfather's passing. He nevertheless takes part in the game because it was his grandfather's final request.

By scoring three straight century in his first three Test innings, Azhar quickly establishes himself as a national hero and earns his spot on Team India. Soon after meeting and falling in love with Naureen, Azhar marries her. In 1991, following a defeat to Pakistan, the president of the Cricket Board contacts Azhar to arrange a private meeting. Azhar first worries about being fired from the squad, therefore his astonishment at being selected as team captain comes as a surprise. Some seasoned players, like Manoj, Ravi, and Navjot, dislike Azhar's selection as captain because they don't want to follow orders from a more inexperienced and younger player. Kapil, though, encourages and helps him to concentrate on his duty.

While competing in an India-Pakistan match, Javed makes fun of Azhar by saying that the Pakistani squad would benefit more from Azhar's Muslim origin. Azhar captains his team to victory and quickly rises to success. When Azhar is at the pinnacle of his career, his personal life is turned upside down when he meets former Miss India and well-known Bollywood actress Sangeeta while filming an advertisement and falls in love with her right away. Sangeeta likes him as well, but she cautions him to keep away from her because she knows he is already married. However, Azhar is enamoured with her beauty and disregards her counsel. They start dating but keep things private until a gossip magazine abruptly makes their relationship public.

Azhar is forced to come clean about his relationship with Sangeeta. Naureen, who is devastated, requests a divorce from him. Shortly after, Azhar leaves her to wed Sangeeta. In a cricket match against the West Indies, Azhar and teammate Manoj argue over Manoj's slow run rate in an effort to get his century, which causes the team to lose. The squad wins the following match under Azhar's leadership after Manoj is benched. Manoj feels humiliated and makes a vow to get even. Azhar, who is well-known for leading a lavish lifestyle, attracts the attention of match-fixers later in his career. Soon after, he is approached by a bookmaker from London named M.K Sharma who is posing as a diamond dealer. Sharma then makes Azhar an offer to underperform in a match versus Sri Lanka for 10 million rupees, to which he reluctantly agrees.

In a parallel narrative, following the match-fixing incident, Azhar is now the target of widespread criticism, and Meera, a prosecutor, is putting up a solid case against him based on Manoj's sting operations against Ravi, Navjot, and numerous other cricket players. In order to obtain more proof, she also consults the report of the commission of inquiry established by the Cricket Board and meets in secret with the bookmaker M. K. Sharma. Naureen rejects Meera's request to have her act as a witness when she also approaches her. Azhar and his attorney Reddy are still working to establish any evidence of his innocence, but none of his teammates are willing to assist him.

To regain his former notoriety in the public eye, Azhar visits a gymnasium official opening. However, the owner himself insults Azhar. Reddy finally succeeds in his eight-year legal battle by demonstrating in court that the inquiry commission's report is slanted because it was funded by the Cricket Board itself. Since none of the witnesses to the sting operation tapes were sworn in, Reddy even questions their veracity. As a result, their statements cannot be taken at face value. Later, Azhar also admits that he stole 10 million rupees from the bookie to keep him away from the rest of the team, but that after scoring game-winning innings, he gave the bookie his entire payment back.

Naureen and Sangeeta both turn up to the court hearing on the day of the verdict to support Azhar. In a television interview, Kapil also expressed his conviction that Azhar is innocent. The court overturns Azhar's suspension from the India cricket board in its ruling.

Azhar did mediocre business at the box office, earning close to 57 crore rupees against a budget of 35 crore rupees. People criticised the interpretation of the actual facts but also praised Emraan Hashmi's performance.