Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan, daughter of P R Balan and Saraswathy Balan, born on 1January 1979 is an Indian actress.

Growing up in the sub urban neighborhood of Chembur, Mumbai, Vidya aspired to ac t in films from a very young age. She acted in the first season of Ekta Kapoor’s Hum Paanch in the role of Radhika. She attended St. Xavier’s College and then went on to persue her Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of  Mumbai. While pursuing her Master’s degree, Vidya attempted to work in films but was unsuccessful.

Her first film was the Bengali drama Bhalo Theko.In 2005 she made her debut in Bollywood with Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta. It won a Best Female Debut Award and nomination for Best Actress at Filmfare Awards. Next she starred in the comedy Lage Raho Munna Bhai. From then on followed Guru, Salaam –E- Ishq and Ekalavya., which were commercial failures but Vidya’s acting talent was praised. She then appeared in Sajid Khan’s Heyy Babyy in which her style sense was criticized. Bhool Bhulaiyaa came next and was a success at the box office. In 2009 Paa was considered as a turning point in her career.Then followed the success of Ishqia(2010), No One Killed Jessica(2011), The Dirty Picture(2011), Kahaani(2012), Ghanchakkar(2013), Bobby Jasoos(2014), Hamari Aduri Kahani(2015), etc. The Dirty Picture fetched a National Film Award for Best Actress.

She is known for portraying strong female protagonists and has brought about a change in the concept of Hindi film heroine.

She is married to Siddharth Roy Kapur,the CEO of UTV Motion Picture.She was awarded a Padma Shri and received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Rai university.   

Azhar: A dispiriting script which disgraces a colourful personality

A disclaimer at the beginning of the movie proclaims that it is an imaginary story which features many incidents of an Indian cricket captain and any connection with any person is purely coincidental.

The movie depicts the life of Mohammad Azaharuddin (Emraan Hashmi), one of the most popular and controversial figures in the history of Indian cricket. The Hyderabad boy rises to immense popularity and fame as predicted by his maternal grandfather but also is plunged into the abyss under the charge of match fixing. The movie drags and mainly focuses on Azhar’s personal life- his extravagant lifestyle, relation with his first wife Naureen ( Prachi Desai) and the glamour queen Sangeeta( Nargis Fakhri). Also Manoj, Navjot and Ravi are mentioned by their first names only; no surnames.

It is only Emraan’s powerful acting which makes Azhar watchable. The actor, previously known for lip locking scenes in movies has proved his acting talents in Dibakar Banerjee’s  Sanghai and we get to see that  equal amount of talent and hardwork in Azhar. He has tried his best to transform every bit into Azhar. Prachi Desai as Naureen is average. Nargis Fakhri is pouty with not so good dialogue delivery. Lara Dutta as the feisty public prosecutor, once a fan of Azhar acts her part well.Kunal Roy Kapur, Azhar’s fumbling lawyer friend is average.

Coming to the director, Tony D’ Souza has made a quest to portray Azhar as innocent and also eulogizes him. He glosses the grays. A movie about such a famous figure requires proper research but sadly Azhar lacks it. A dull script disgraces him.

The editing is also poor and the movie in many parts drags and bore us.

But the music especially Bol Do Na Zara and Itni Si Baat pleases us and capture our mind.

On the whole Azhar is a mediocre film and lacks a powerful plot. Emraan Hashmi is the only reason to watch it.