Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn has put up a riveting and arguably his career-best performance in his latest feature film “Maidaan” to bring alive on screen the real-life story of Syed Abdul Rahim, the pioneering football coach under whose supervision India won two gold medals, one each in the Asian Games of 1951 and 1962, in what is undoubtedly the golden chapter of the country’s football history.
Since “Maidaan” hit the theatres on 11 April, the media reviews are gung-ho about Ajay’s role in it. Besides Ajay, Priyamani and Nitanshi Goel also play key roles in the film directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma.

The famous forward trio of Indian football Pradeep Kumar Banerjee, Chuni Goswami and Tulsidas Balaram goalkeeper Peter Thangaraj, stopper Jarnail Singh and custodian Pradyut Barman starred in the team that ended in fourth place at the 1956 Olympics and won gold at the Asian Games in 1951 and 1962.

It was Syed Abdul Rahim who moulded them into such a crack combination. That string of performances had put India on the world football map.
A common complaint about war and sports-based films in India is that it tends to be jingoistic. But that certainly is not the case with “Maidaan” simply because it avoids that temptation and focuses more on the struggles of Rahim, a former school teacher from Hyderabad, during his stint as a coach, how he fought politics, and regional biases to build and galvanize a team that could take on the best in Asia.
It recreates with restraint some of India’s proudest moments in international football.

Indian film critics have gushed about the film though they also pointed out its slow pace in the first half. Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, a football fan, also sang paeans for “Maidaan.” Veteran writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar also heaped praise on “Maidaan” saying it is a “must-watch film.”
The last time sports-based movies became hits was in 2007 when Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan essayed the role of Kabir Khan, the coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, and in 2021 when another Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh played the role of former Indian cricket all-rounder Kapil Dev in the film “83” (released in 2021) made on India’s first World Cup Cricket winning feat in 1983.
The stories of India’s best time in international football in the 1960s and Syed Abdul Rahim’s status as a coach, who had for long remained a forgotten figure, were waiting to be told and “Maidaan” did aptly.