Director Amit Sharma spoke about Maidaan
Ahead of the release of Maidaan , director Amit Ravindernath Sharma spoke about the movie, casting and many more. He was not sure of casting Ajay Devgn as Syed Abdul Rahim in the film. In a recent interview he revealed that he already had an image of Singham in Ajay Devgn’s personality so he was not sure if Ajay could pull this off but once he narrated the script to Ajay gave him brief about his role at that time he noticed sudden change in the actor’s body language. Maidaan is based of real life incidents. It revolves around the life of Indian Football Legend Syed Abdul Rahim.
Amit had Ajay Devgn’s image as Singham
Amit said, “I had never worked with him before, so I had my own doubts. You build an image in your mind of an actor, and his image in my mind was of Singham. But he broke that. He would keep the stardom of Ajay Devgn outside the set. Once in, he would be Syed. His performance in the film is incredible. I’m not saying because it’s my film, but viewers will realise once they watch it.” Amit recalled meeting Ajay for a narration. The actor had then asked him who was Syed for him. When Amit “started narrating his vision of the character to Ajay, he saw something shift”.
Amit narrates the story of how Ajay was finalized
Amit also said, “When we started having conversations about him, I remember at one point he was standing like the way Ajay Devgn does, with swagger, and by the end of it, he was standing like Syed. Simple, slightly bent. There was no Singham, only Syed. I told him he would be wearing loose pants because you’re a coach and you won’t think what you’re wearing. Back then the clothes were also different— pleated pants, trousers, loose shirts. An actor would usually think about how he’s looking, check in the mirror if the clothes are of fitting or not. But not Ajay, he never once asked about his physical experience. He was completely on board my ideas and vision of the character. In one of the meetings I told him there were too many dialogues of him and I would chop them out because Syed would talk less. He said, ‘Please go ahead, we are on the same page’.”
Maidaan vs Bade Miyan Chote Miyan
Maidaan also features Priyamani, Gajraj Rao and Rudranil Ghosh in pivotal roles. The film’s music is given by AR Rahman. In 2020, producer Boney Kapoor had to dismantle the film set due to the lockdown which was there at the time of corona virus. In May 2021, the set of Maidaan was destroyed by Cyclone Tauktae. Finally, the movie is all set to release in theatres in EID. Maidaan is clashing with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. Both the movies are slated to release on 10th April 2024.
Kevin Varchand