Ajay Devgn Kicks Off ‘Maidaan’ on Football Legend Syed Abdul Rahim

The actor plays the role of football legend Syed Abdul Rahim in the film.

Maidaan First Poster: Ajay Devgn stars as football legend Syed Abdul Rahim.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

Ajay Devgn has begun work on his next film, Maidaan, where he will play the role of Syed Abdul Rahim, regarded as the architect of modern Indian football.

The makers announced the film by releasing a poster, which depicts a football as a globe. The film will mainly cover the period between 1952 and 1962, defined as the golden era of Indian football.

Directed by Badhaai Ho director Amit Sharma, and produced by Boney Kapoor, Akash Chawla and Arunava Joy Sengupta, the film will also star Keerthy Suresh. The actor, who has so far worked in several Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films, will be making her Bollywood debut with Maidaan.

Ajay does not play football in real life and has been taking football lessons to prepare for the role. But reports suggest that he won’t actually be playing the game on the field that much.

Syed Abdul Rahim was a football player, and the coach and manager of the Indian national football team from 1950 until his death in 1963. 

A report in Bollywoodhungama also said that Ajay will also have to age to around 60 years, which will be a first for him, and there will be some major prosthetic work involved.

Speaking to the portal, director Amit Sharma said, “The aim is to do something special with the life of a very special athlete by using an actor who is known to bring an extraordinary quality to the table.”