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  80 per cent of the film is factual: Emraan Hashmi

80 per cent of the film is factual: Emraan Hashmi

Published : May 11, 2016, 10:15 pm IST
Updated : May 11, 2016, 10:15 pm IST

Emraan hashmi talks about the mental and physical prep that went into stepping into the shoes of azharuddin.

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Emraan hashmi talks about the mental and physical prep that went into stepping into the shoes of azharuddin.

Emraan Hashmi has played a villain, an erotic lover, a haunted magician and more in his previous films. Taking a different route, in Azhar, he plays former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin. He talks about the art of mastering his much-cherished role of Azhar and shares some interesting insights on the life and times of the cricketer.

Mastering the character “We started with a lot of research material put forth by the director of the film and his team. I had to work on that for the initial three-four months and that involved browsing through reports, interviews available on YouTube, etc. Imbibing and bringing alive his mannerisms, the way he plays cricket in real life was difficult. It was a completely different ball game, and took me atleast 6-7 months to crack a lot of things. One was the external training that involved sharpening my cricketing skills to emulate his, body language for which he (Azhar) trained me for over three months, etc. The other challenge was showing his emotional journey as a captain of the Indian team and his inner turmoil when there were allegations of match-fixing. A lot of mental prep had to be done,” Emraan says. Emraan adds, “It is not a docu-drama. 80 per cent of the film is factual and there are real life anecdotes, but for the remaining 20 per cent, we took cinematic liberties and tweaked it a bit.”

Fiction v/s reality Sharing about how difficult it is to play a real person as compared to a fictional character, Emraan says, “When I got the first call from the director to play Azhar, I was thrilled because I knew this would be a different experience. In a fictional film, a script binds you. There can be many interpretations of a fictional character and all of them could be right or wrong. But while playing a popular sportsperson, you don’t have much room for error you have to be as accurate as possible. This was one of the most exciting and challenging jobs for me.”

Cricket affinities As a true Indian, Emraan feels cricket is in his blood. “I have always followed cricket very closely since childhood. However, I haven’t been able to follow it as closely in the past 10-12 years because of my busy schedule. I keep going back to the days when Azhar, Sachin and Kapil Dev used to play. Those were the glory days of cricket; there used to be a certain frenzy and madness for the sport. It was the frenzy that I enjoyed the most, and there weren’t as many formats as we have today. Since I knew about the game, Azhar’s captaincy and his life, and the scandal, I was very greedy to lap up what I got.”

Training days The actor is grateful to Azharuddin for teaching him the tricks of the trade. He shares, “I have always been a gully cricketer, but I don’t have any technical perfection. Luckily, Azhar bhai got down to train me in that part, and he was right there to teach me the nuances of the game. Practicing was a nerve-wrecking experience. My wrist used to hurt a lot after three hours of playing that included 100-103 ball throws. There used to be a bucket of ice kept on the sets to dip my wrists into. Earlier, I used to do a lot of weight training but to prep for the film, I gave up on that and did athletic training for almost 6-7 months. Since leg glance technique strains your nerves, I did a lot of yoga. That also helped in opening up my wrists,” he recalls.

Ask him if match-fixing is cricket’s one big malaise, then what is that one tag that defines the problems associated with the film industry, and he responds, “Piracy could destroy the industry and is something that we haven’t been able to curb. It kills the market to a great extent and affects the producers a lot.”

Inside revelations While shooting for the film, there were some interesting revelations about Azhar. Hashmi says, “I didn’t know he was so attached to his grandfather, who orchestrated Azhar bhai’s entry into the cricketing world. Azhar bhai told me that there used to be a tree in his school, and he had a visual of his grandfather there with his hands folded and disciplining him. He used to be unforgiving when he missed a shot or didn’t play well. There are several such finer nuances about him that one can make at least a ten-hour movie on, but we decided to take only the key moments of his life.”

Common denominator “I have seen a fair share of obstacles in my life like Azhar bhai. He segregates his personal and professional lives, and similarly, I like to compartmentalise the two as well. He is very grounded and humble and I also strive to be the same,” says Emraan, who feels that there are a few striking similarities between him and the cricketer. Co-star diaries “It has been a delight working with Prachi. It has been almost five years since we worked together. We were aware of the expectations of the audience from our chemistry and us. I don’t see any other actor playing Azharuddin’s first wife Naureen with as much conviction as Prachi did,” he says and adds with a chuckle, “She is not as professional as me. For 9 am shoots, she comes at 10 am, which is absolutely fine by actors’ standards.”