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Upala KBR (DNA; May 9, 2016)

Former Indian captain and politician Mohammed Azharuddin has been travelling with Emraan Hashmi and the entire cast of Azhar (the biopic made on him) everywhere they go. But more often, he’s been getting irritated with a particlar question being thrown at him by the media: Did he take the money or not?

Towards the end of his career, Azhar was accused of match-fixing and a lifetime ban on his participation in cricket was imposed by the BCCI in 2000. However, in 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled that the life ban imposed on Azhar was illegal and lifted it.

Says a source, “When the film started, the production house had made it clear that he would have to travel with the rest of the team as they wanted to be a part of the promotions. Azhar was fine with it though he didn’t do all the promotional activities — only the fun ones or media junkets like the recent Dubai trip.”

On one such trip, a national news channel asked Azhar the question, he just got up in the middle of the show and walked out leaving the anchor stumped! He just lost his temper and everyone was shocked.

The source adds that he refused to come back and complete the interview after that even though the film’s marketing team told him all he had to do was tell them laughingly to watch out in the film to know the answer. “It’s for the same reason that he’s also refused to be part of a major show hosted by another news channel as he doesn’t want to be asked hard-nosed questions at all.”