Maidaan

About the film

Maidaan (transl. Field) is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film co-written and directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Akash Chawla, Arunava Joy Sengupta, Boney Kapoor and Zee Studios. The film stars Ajay Devgn as Syed Abdul Rahim, a pioneering football coach in India between 1952 and 1962. The music is composed by A. R. Rahman.

The film was released worldwide on 11 April 2024, coinciding with Eid. It received positive reviews from critics but emerged as a commercial failure, grossing ₹68 crore worldwide.

Plot

At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, the Indian national football team faces a major defeat against Yugoslavia with a score of 10-1. The members of this All India Football Federation blame the coach Syed Abdul Rahim for the team's underperformance. Rahim requests permission to form another team with new players. The members of the federation are reluctant, especially Subhankar, but Rahim receives support from President Anjan, who grants him permission. Rahim then scouts for players from all over India and forms a new team consisting of Tulsidas Balaram from Secunderabad, Peter Thangaraj from Hyderabad, and P. K. Banerjee and Chuni Goswami from Calcutta among others. Roy Choudhary, an influential journalist from Calcutta, holds a grudge against Rahim, as he has formed the team with a very small number of players from Calcutta.

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the Indian team prepares to play against Australia. A player from the Australian team disrespects Neville D'Souza and makes him tie his shoes. Neville goes on to score a hat-trick and the Indian team wins the match with a score of 7-1, leaving the Australian team in shock. The Indian team eventually secures the fourth position at the Olympics. Meanwhile, Roy Choudhary and Subhankar plan to remove Rahim from the federation and make Subhankar the President. At the 1960 Summer Olympics the Indian team is pitted against France, which is considered the best team in the world. The match ended in a draw with a score of 1-1, and the Indian team fails to qualify. The federation removes Rahim as coach for the Indian team on the grounds of underperformance. Rahim also learns that he has developed lung cancer due to his excessive smoking habit and will not live long.

Rahim decides to spend his remaining days at home with his family and has frequent coughing fits. His wife, Saira, motivates him, telling him not to give up and pursue his dream of leading the Indian team to win a gold medal. Rahim requests that the federation let him coach the team again and promises that if the team does not win a gold medal, he will not coach any team again in his life. Subhankar, who is now President, initially refuses but has to give in to his request as the other members of the federation give their votes to let Rahim coach the team.

Production

Principal photography commenced on 19 August 2019 and experienced long delays due to COVID-19 pandemic and Cyclone Nisarga, ultimately ending in May 2022. The film was scheduled to release in theatres on 3 June 2022 but was delayed due to impending post-production works. The film was set to be released on 23 June 2023 but was delayed again.

Music

Originally, the soundtrack for Maidaan was to be composed by Amit Trivedi, with his frequent collaborator Amitabh Bhattacharya penning the lyrics, and dialogue writer Siddhant Mago co-composing the background score with newcomer Mayank Mehra. However, delays in production resulted in Trivedi, Bhattacharya and Mehra exiting, with Mago later being limited to dialogue credits. A.R. Rahman was subsequently hired to replace the quartet.

The music of the film is composed by Rahman while lyrics are written by Manoj Muntashir. The first single titled "Mirza" was released on 18 March 2024. The entire album was released on 8 April 2024.

Release

The film had paid previews on 10 April 2024, before releasing nationwide a day later on 11 April coinciding with Eid, in standard formats and IMAX.

The film's digital rights have been bagged by Amazon Prime Video and satellite rights acquired by Star Gold. The film premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 5 June 2024.

Reception

Maidaan received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10.

India Today’s Sana Farzeen rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and said “Ajay Devgn strikes gold, yet again” Bollywood Hungama critic rated 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Maidaan is one of the finest sports-based films of Bollywood that rests on a National Award-worthy performance by Ajay Devgn."

Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express rated the film 2.5/5 and wrote “… makes you want to clap, cheer and shed a proud tear.” and said “Ajay Devgn plays Syed Abdul Rahim with a patent sincerity and only a hint of the slo-mo swagger. His rag-tag team has the kind of composition so syncretic that it makes you ache with nostalgia.” Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated 2/5 stars and observed "Maidaan draws out more yawns than yays."

Key details