Ajay Devgn plays real-life Indian football legend Syed Abdul Rahim, the man who propelled Indian football to its highest-ever flight during the 1950s, in the teaser of Zee Studios’ upcoming biographical sports drama film Maidaan.
The one-minute-30-second-long teaser, dropped on Thursday, begins with an introduction of the Indian football team’s historic match against Yugoslavia in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in which Indian players played barefoot. This was the second time India had qualified for the Olympics. We are then introduced to Ajay’s Syed Abdul Rahim, the coach of the Indian football team.
The video shows Indian football’s golden age — from 1952 to 1962 — under Rahim, who is still considered the all-time greatest coach of the Indian national team. The trailer is filled with a bunch of training montages, some stunning goals in slow-motion, a glimpse of the attacks the team faced, the turmoils Rahim faced and some electrifying pep talks by Devgn. The teaser also shows glimpses of the legendary coach’s vulnerabilities.
The Bholaa actor-director took to Instagram to share the teaser of the upcoming film on Thursday. “#Maidaan mein utrenge Gyarah par dikhenge Ek. A True Story. Teaser out now. #MaidaanTeaser #MaidaanOnJune23,” he wrote.
Watch the teaser here:
Directed by Badhaai Ho helmer Amit Ravindernath Sharma, the film also stars Priyamani and Gajraj Rao. Bengali actor Rundranil Ghosh will also play an important role in the film. Maidaan’s music is composed by AR Rahman.
The teaser of the film has similar tonality to Shah Rukh Khan’s Chak De! India (2007) and Akshay Kumar-starrer Gold (2018). Both films chronicled the journey of an underdog Indian team to victory. The only difference between the earlier two films and Maidaan seems to be the sport.
Produced by Boney Kapoor, Akash Chawla, Arunava Joy Sengupta and Zee Studios, the film’s release was delayed due to Covid-19-induced restrictions.
Maidaan will hit the theatres on June 23.