Sarbjit is a 2016 Bollywood biographical drama film directed by Omung Kumar. The film stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Randeep Hooda in lead roles, with Richa Chadda and Darshan Kumar in supporting roles in the film. The film is narrated through the perspective of Sarbjit Singh's sister, Dalbir Kaur, played by Aishwarya Rai.

Made on a production budget of 15 crore (US$2.2 million), Sarbjit premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festivalb and was released on 20 May 2016 to mixed reactions from critics. The film has turned out to be a profitable venture at box-office by grossing about 43.88 crore (US$6.5 million) worldwide after its two-week run.

Movie Casting:

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Dalbir Kaur

Randeep Hooda as Sarabjeet Singh

Richa Chaddha as Sukhpreet

Darshan Kumar as Awais Sheikh

Ankita Shrivastav as Poonam

Shiwani Saini as Swapan

Ankur Bhatia as Mandev

Charanprit Singh as Sanjay

Ram Murti Sharma as Daarji

Movie Plot

Sarbjit Singh (Randeep Hooda) lives in a village near Punjab with his wife Sukhpreet (Richa Chadda), sister Dalbir Kaur (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) and father. He also has two daughters, Poonam Kaur (Ankita Shrivastav) and Swapandeep Kaur. He was a farmer who worked on the farms of other people to earn a livelihood. One day he gets arrested by the Pakistani army for crossing the border unknowingly. He is tortured in the Pakistani jail to death, convicted as an Indian Spy and named as the person behind bomb blasts in Lahore, Pakistan. He is alleged as Ranjit Singh Mattu in Pakistan, who is the main culprit behind the blasts.

 

Sarbjit’s sister Dalbir fought with the Pakistani Government for nearly 23 years before Sarbjit was declared as innocent. Sarbjit’s case was fought by Awais Sheikh (Darshan Kumar). He, with the help of Dalbir, tries to find a way to prove Sarbjit's innocence and catch the real culprit Ranjit Singh Mattu. But after Sarbjit was declared innocent and given bail, he was attacked in the jail where he gets badly injured and was later hospitalized. On 2 May 2013 he took his last breath.

Filming

The film locations included Punjab, Delhi and Mumbai. Few crucial scenes was shot at the Wagah Border. The director had created the by-lanes of Pakistan in Mumbai Bohri Mohallah, besides Punjab. The protagonist's house was recreated in Aarey Colony in the city though it could have been shot in Tarn Taran ( Sarbjit Singh's hometown), the filmmaker reasoned that the town looks a little too modernized for the Punjab of 90s. Since Sarbjit's home was to be shown over a period of two decades, the set was changed accordingly. It was reported on March 18, 2016 that the film shoot was halted for over four hours and producer (Zafar Mehdi) was arrested for hurting national sentiments while shooting a rally sequence with anti-India slogans in Urdu. The scene didn't go down well with the locals at Bhendi Bazaar and they filed a complaint against the makers. However Police officials has released Zafar Mehdi as they had valid permission to shoot for the film.

Azhar is a 2016 Indian sports drama film directed by Tony D'Souza. The story is written by Rajat Arora and is inspired from the life of Indian cricketer and former national team captain Mohammad Azharuddin. The film is produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor for Sony Pictures Networks, and features Emraan Hashmi in the titular role. Nargis Fakhri, Prachi Desai and Lara Dutta play crucial supporting roles. The sports action was done by Rob Miller of ReelSports. The film released worldwide on 13 May 2016.

Movie Casting:

Emraan Hashmi as Mohammad Azharuddin

Nargis Fakhri as Sangeeta Bijlani, the second wife of Azharuddin

Prachi Desai as Naureen, the first wife of Azharuddin

Lara Dutta as Meera

Kunaal Roy Kapur as Reddy

Gautam Gulati as Ravi

Manjot Singh as Navjot

Karanvir Sharma as Manoj

Rajesh Sharma as M. K. Sharma

Hemant Choudhary as Samar (Ad Film Director)

Varun Badola as Kapil

Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Azhar's Nanu

Jameel Khan as Jay Shweta Kawatra as Magazine Writer

Plot

The movie begins with Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin (Emraan Hashmi) scoring a century in his 99th test match, but he soon faces allegations of match-fixing; his name has been linked with a London based bookie. The India cricket board issues a him a life-ban. Azhar decides to challenge the ban in court with the help of his lawyer friend Reddy (Kunaal Roy Kapoor).

The story shifts to 1963, when Azhar was born to a middle-class family in Hyderabad. His grandfather dreamed of Azhar playing 100 tests for Team India, and motivates a soft-spoken Azhar to answer his rivals with his batting skills. Young Azhar goes for an Indian team selection match to Mumbai, where on match day he receives news of his grandfather's death. Nonetheless, he participates in the match, in accordance with his grandfather's last wish. Azhar impresses the selectors, sealing his place in Team India, and he soon becomes national hero by scoring 3 consecutive centuries in his first 3 test innings. Azhar soon marries Naureen (Prachi Desai) and they both begin a happy married life. After a loss against Pakistan in 1991, the president of cricket broad calls Azhar for a one-on-one meeting. Azhar initially fears getting dropped from the team, but is surprised when he is offered the position of team captain. Some senior players,like Manoj, Ravi and Navjot, resent Azhar's appointment, not wishing to take orders from a younger player. But Kapil (Varun Badola) supports and encourages him to focus on his duty. While playing in an India–Pakistan match, Javed taunts Azhar, telling Azhar his Muslim heritage would be a better fit for the Pakistan team. Azhar leads his team to victory, and soon becomes a successful captain. At peak of his career, Azhar's personal life takes a twist when he meets a former Miss India, Bollywood actress Sangeeta (Nargis Fakhri) during an ad film shoot and falls in love with her. They both begin dating but keep their relationship hidden, until it is exposed by a gossip magazine. Azhar then publicly announces his affair with Sangeeta. Heartbroken, Naureen asks him for a divorce, and soon Azhar leaves her to marry Sangeeta. During a cricket match against the West Indies, Azhar gets in a spat with Manoj for a slow run rate in order to complete his century, letting the team lose. Manoj is dropped from the next match and Azhar leads the team to victory. Manoj is humiliated and vows to take revenge. In later years of his career, Azhar famous for his expensive lifestyle, comes into contact with match-fixers. He is soon been approached by a London-based bookie disguised as a diamond merchant, who later offers him 1 crore rupees to under play in a match against Sri Lanka, which Azhar hesitantly accepts. In a parallel story, after the match-fixing scandal, Azhar is now facing nationwide criticism and a London-based prosecutor, Meera (Lara Dutta), is building up a strong case against him on the basis of sting operations done by Manoj on Ravi, Navjot and several other cricketers.

She also uses the report of the inquiry commission set up by the cricket board and secretly meets bookie M. K. Sherma to gather more evidence. Meera also approaches Naureen, asking her to serve as a witness, but she refuses. Meanwhile, Azhar and his lawyer Reddy are struggling to find any proof of innocence as none of his fellow cricketers are ready to help him out. Azhar attends a gym-opening ceremony to gain back his old fame in public, but is left insulted by the owner himself. After a long, eight-year legal fight, Reddy finally makes a breakthrough by proving in court that the inquiry commission report is biased, as they were been paid by cricket board itself. Reddy even challenges the authenticity of sting operation tapes as none of the witness was under oath and can not be treated as truth. Later, Azhar also revels that he took 1 crore rupees from the bookie to keep him away from other team members but later scored a match winning innings and returned all the money.

On the final day of judgment both Naureen and Sangeeta attend the court hearing, showing their support for Azhar. Kapil also states in a television interview that he believes Azhar is innocent. In its final verdict, the court declares Azhar innocent and free from all match-fixing allegations due to lack of evidence. Azhar once again proudly walks out of the court with his head high and name cleared from all scandals.

Controversy

The film has generated controversy prior to its release over a storyline that absolves the protagonist Mohammad Azharuddin from charges of fixing matches in return of money. M A Ganapathy the former Superintendent of Police in CBI who was the chief investigating officer in the match-fixing case has refuted the movie's clean chit to Azharuddin claiming that his confession is on tape with the CBI. Azharuddin's involvement in match fixing was also accepted by Rakesh Maria, the former head of the Crime Branch and Commissioner of Mumbai Police. In a conversation recorded by the news magazine Tehelka, Maria claims that Azhar had "a criminal bent of mind".