The shooting of Anthony D'Souza's upcoming Emraan Hashmi-starrer, Azhar, was disrupted by about 2000 men, who marched into Hyderabad's Osmania University on Sunday morning. They were bunch of aggressive union members.

“We had all the necessary permits to shoot in the university. But there was some kind of miscommunication among the institution's 32 unions. Nearly 4,000 union members were stationed outside the gates since early morning. It was quite scary,“ admits Anthony, who had planned a four-day schedule for the courtroom sequence at the university.

“The university's management was co-operative but the incident was quite disturbing,“ says the director, adding that his leading man Emraan was keen on having a word with the agitating group and had to be dissuaded owing to security concerns.

Emraan and he were taken to a room and locked in there until the police arrived and safely escorted them out. Actresses Lara Dutta, Prachi Desai and Nargis Fakhri who were on their way to the shoot were sent back to the hotel. “It was just not possible to shoot at the University yesterday,“ asserts Anthony. Emraan, who had shot for the film in London for over a month, starting August 7 at the Lords cricket stadium, kick-started the Hyderabad schedule of the film, which is based on former Indian captain Mohd. Azharuddin's life, on November 6. “We are yet to decide on our next plan of action. We will scout for another location for the courtroom sequence and finish shooting the other parts meanwhile. We don't intend to waste any more dates,“ concludes Anthony.