Emraan to play ex-cricketer Azharuddin in Ekta's next biopic

It took Ekta Kapoor 30 meetings over a year to convince Mohammed Azharuddin to allow her to make a film on his life.

The former Indian cricket captain has been a controversial figure in Indian cricket and was disgraced in the match fixing scandal that rocked the nation.

Azhar who at one point of time was the most successful Indian captain ever also became a political figure in the meantime.

His marriage with actress Sangeeta Bijlani, his passion for flashy accessories also made enough fodder for the media and has enough drama for a biopic.

So when Ekta wanted to make a film on his life, he was a bit sceptical as well. Ekta had already made a semi biopic on Silk Smitha called The Dirty Picture which also featured Emraan Hashmi apart from Once Upon A Time in Mumbai and Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara the actor had featured in the former playing the character Dawood Ibrahim had done.

Hence Ekta had a choice of a biopic and she chose Azharuddin.

"I wanted to make a lot of biopics, but then there was one biopic which I thought should be made and a story that needed to be told was Azharuddin's. I heard the story and felt that I should get in touch with him. It took me about 30 meetings with Azharuddin and we had a lot of conversations. Azhar is also a friend of my dad Jeetuji and we have put in a lot of hard work on the film," says the producer.

As for Azharuddin he is happy that the serial kisser is playing his role." You cannot take away from the fact that Emraan is known for what he has done on screen before. I think you will see a different set of acting skills from Emraan in this film," says Azhar, ostensibly happy with what he has seen on the film.

Emraan feels that the biggest challenge for him is to emulate the batting style of the wristy Hyderabadi. "His leg glance was a classic. His wrists are as flexible as rubber and I had to do a lot of weight trainings to ensure that I do that on screen to make me believable," says the star.

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