Shoot for Keerthy Suresh’s first Hindi film with Ajay Devgn has begun. The film is titled Maidaan and, as reported earlier, is based on the Indian football team from 1952-62. Ajay Devgn plays football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, and Keerthy Suresh’s part is yet to be confirmed. She shared the first-look poster recently and said she was waiting to begin shoot.
Can’t wait to join #Maidaan shoot!?@BoneyKapoor sir @ajaydevgn sir @iAmitRSharma @freshlimefilms @saiwynQ @writish @zeestudios_ @ZeeStudiosInt @MaidaanOfficial pic.twitter.com/yOoHZWt2z7
— Keerthy Suresh (@KeerthyOfficial) August 19, 2019
Syed Abdul Rahim was a Hyderabad-based footballer who led the Indian team to victory in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics semi-finals. He was also manager of the Indian national team from 1950 till his death in 1963, the period considered the golden age of football in India.
Maidaan is directed by Amit Sharma, who made Badhai Ho, and has screenplay by Saiwyn Quadros and dialogues by Ritesh Shah. Boney Kapoor, Akash Chawla and Arunava Joy Sengupta are the producers of the film.
According to a report by India Today, Boney Kapoor said, “I was amazed that not many are aware of someone as significant as Syed Abdul Rahim. He’s an unsung hero whose achievements must be saluted. His team had heroes like Chunni Goswami, PK Banerjee, Balaram, Franco and Arun Ghosh. It takes someone like Ajay Devgn to play Syed Abdul Rahim.”
Elated and proud to announce a story never told as @ZeeStudios_ #BoneyKapoor & @freshlimefilms come together for a biopic on India’s legendary #Football coach, Syed Abdul Rahim, starring @ajaydevgn, directed by @CinemaPuraDesi, screenplay by @SaiwynQ, and dialogues by @writish. pic.twitter.com/vzaLJya67x
— Zee Studios (@ZeeStudios_) July 13, 2018
The shoot for the film will reportedly take place in Jakarta in Indonesia, Rome in Italy and Melbourne in Australia. The film is likely to wrap up by this year end, and release next year.
Keerthy Suresh, who recently won the National Award for best actress for Mahanati, is currently also busy with the women-centric Telugu film by Narendra Nath, and a film with Nagesh Kukunoor, the director of Hyderabad Blues. In Tamil, she has Karthik Subbaraj’s upcoming production, also a women-centric film directed by newcomer Eashvar Karthic. The film has a new team, with music composed by Santhosh Narayanan, and shoot will begin in September.
Besides Maidaan, Ajay Devgn has Taanaji – The Unsung Warrior and Bhuj: The Pride of India under production.
