Maidaan, a poignant ode to Syed Abdul Rahim, the man who created Indian football, documents the sport’s golden age and creates room for soccer in a country obsessed with cricket. Similar to Indian football’s luck, Maidaan’s path has been doomed for a number of reasons. It is regrettable that we lost the formidable team of P.K. Banerjee, Chunni Goswami, and Tulsidas Balaram—who together earned us the gold medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 1962—while filming the movie. The wait has been worthwhile, though, as director Amit Ravindernath Sharma nets three or more goals.
Maidaan: The Main Character And Plot
Leading the charge as the chain-smoking Rahim, played by a completely committed Ajay Devgn, the movie aims to erase the stigma from the now-forgotten era of Indian football dominance in Asia. Without romanticizing it, it captures the moments when football shaped the hopes and dreams of the young people in the recently established country.
The film doesn’t go beyond trying to play on the sensitive feelings, even when there are scenes of barefoot magicians being tramped on by powerful Europeans. Additionally, despite being an Eid release, Rahim’s identity is not stereotyped.
The Background Scene
The film’s standout feature is the heart-pounding sports action, which is supported by an equally thunderous background score by A.R. Rahman, something we haven’t seen in Hindi movies previously. The guys are relentlessly followed by Russian photographer Andrey Valantsov’s camera as they run for their lives, their dignity, and the honor of their country. Together, they capture the sheer appeal, excitement, and tempo of the Beautiful Game, leaving the viewer to smell the men’s sweat and blood. The players’ cheers and shouts seem genuine. Rahim’s signature 4-2-4 formation is made incredibly clear by Shahnawaz Mosani’s precise editing, and the intricate actions made on the pitch to create scoring possibilities are succinctly explained.
The film, which is well-researched, gets you to think about the contributions of goalie Peter Thangaraj (Tejas Ravishankar), who played in the final despite an injury, and Jarnail Singh, whom Rahim brilliantly converted from a defender to a striker in pivotal matches. Not to be overlooked are the steady midfielder and defender Arun Ghosh (Aaman Munshi) and the reliable half-back Fortunato Franco (Madhur Mittal).
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