Football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, played by Ajay Devgn, pledges to achieve a near-impossible goal of making a team of underdogs win at the Asian Games in the trailer of Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s upcoming sports biopic Maidaan, dropped by the makers on Thursday.

The two-minute-43-second-long video traces the journey of the football coach who gathered players from all over India in the 1950s and created a world-class team ready to compete in the Asian Games.

“Football can get us recognition,” Ajay’s character says in the trailer, before it cuts to scenes of rigorous practise carried out by him and his team members. From Kolkata’s Nonapukur to the slums of Secunderabad, Rahim went to all the nooks and crannies of the country in search of footballers despite facing backlash from his colleagues.

Even though his superior tells him that no one expects his team to win, Rahim firmly believes in bringing about the “golden era” of Indian football. Rahim’s wife, played by Jawan actress Priyamani, stands as a constant beacon of hope during bleak moments in his career.

The trailer, however, ends on a grim note as a group of rallying men carrying banners with the words “Get Out India” take to the streets in a foreign country, which makes Rahim and his team members realise the importance of unity.

Based on a true story, Maidaan also features Gajraj Rao and Bengali actor Rudranil Ghosh.

Known as “the architect of modern Indian football”, Rahim guided the Indian national team to unprecedented success during the 1950s, which led the Indian team to several triumphs, including gold medals in the Asian Games of 1951 and 1962.

Produced by Zee Studios, Boney Kapoor, Arunava Joy Sengupta and Akash Chawla, Maidaan has been written by Saiwyn Quadras and Ritesh Shah. With music scored by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Manoj Muntashir Shukla, the film is set to release worldwide in theatres on Eid this year.