Azharuddin says Emraan Hashmi is his favourite
Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin finds Emraan Hashmi as the perfect fit to portray him in his biopic
Azhar, while the actor says the cricketer is helping him learn the nuances of the game.
"Emraan is very apt for the role. He has worked very hard. A lot of people asked me 'Why is Emraan doing my role in the film?' But Emraan is my favorite," Azharuddin said here at the launch of the teaser of the film.
"I have watched almost all his films, and I think he is apt for the role. After this film, he will be called Azhar most of the time," he added.
Directed by Tony D'Souza and produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and MSM Motion Pictures,
Azhar will be based on the life of Azharuddin, who helmed the Indian cricket team through a large part of the Nineties.
The cricketer was implicated in a match-fixing scandal in 2000, and banned for life. But later, in 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the ban.
Meanwhile, Emraan said that playing Azhar on screen was a challenge for him as he had no footwork in the cricketer's 'unconventional style of playing the game'. However, he is happy that Azhar himself is training him to learn all the nuances to look convincing on screen.
"There were lot of challenges. One of them was that Azhar's style of playing cricket was very unconventional, and I had no footwork on that. So Azhar-
bhai started training me for cricket. Then I realised that I have a lot to learn in cricket," said the actor, who earlier has been part of cricket-oriented film
Jannat.
"Hopefully, I have become much better in the past three months," he added.
Azhar will release worldwide on May 13, 2016.