PRESS RELEASE
One of India’s largest film production houses, Zee Studios in conjunction with renowned Indian film producers Boney Kapoor, Arunava Joy Sengupta, Akash Chawla have announced the worldwide release of their highly anticipated film Maidaan. The film celebrates the golden era of Indian football and is scheduled to release in cinemas Australia wide on EID April 10, 2024. Esteemed Indian cinema star Ajay Devgn steps into the enormous shoes of Indian football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, who catapulted his country onto the global football stage. Alongside Devgn, celebrated Indian actress Priyamani stars in this sports biopic, along with admired actor Gajraj Rao.
Syed Abdul Rahim is widely celebrated as the founding father of Indian football, is the central figure in this sports biopic. The film beautifully captures his true story, masterfully narrating the challenges, sacrifices, and triumphs of both Rahim and his underdog football team as they strive to overcome sociopolitical obstacles and etch their names on the global football stage. He also played for a Dutch club HSV Hoek before coaching the Indian Football Team, one of the first few Indian players to play for an European club. The team went onto to be hailed as ‘the Brazil of Asia’ and comprised of legendary players such as P.K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Tulsidas Balram, who was called “Pele of Asia”, as well as Jarnail Singh, and Neville Dsouza who was first Asian to score a hat-trick in the history of Olympic football at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
Directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma (director of Badhaai Ho) Maidaan delves into this historic period in Indian football, spanning between 1952 and 1962, chronicling Rahim’s journey as he leads India to historic achievements, including becoming Asia’s first-ever football team to qualify for the Semi Finals of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
Actor, Ajay Devgn says, “”Maidaan is my personal favourite. I rarely say this. It is one of the best films I’ve done. It has shaped up very well. Every department of the film, the storytelling, the direction, the performances, everything looks outstanding. It is a big cinema experience with the matches and the drama and all that. We would want people to see it in the theatres.”
The impact of Indian cinema in recent times cannot be overstated, particularly in Australia, where almost one-third of film releases in Australia have been from India. Unsurprisingly India is now the global leader in film outputs – with an astonishing 1,500 to 2,000 films released each year in more than 20 different languages. With India sitting as the largest diaspora in the Australia now, Indian cinema has a huge domestic audience.
Produced by Zee Studios, Boney Kapoor, Arunava Joy Sengupta and Akash Chawla, screenplay and dialogues are written by Saiwyn Quadras and Ritesh Shah respectively, music by AR Rahman and lyrics by Manoj Muntashir Shukla. The film is all set to release worldwide in theatres on Eid, April 10, 2024.
