Maidaan Review: Riveting sports drama that salutes the golden period of Indian football and unsung hero Abdul Syed Rahim
Maidaan Movie Rating: 3.5 Stars
Watched Maidaan movie in Cinema. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Priyamani, Gajraj Rao, Devyansh Tripathi, Nitanshi Goel, Aayesha Vindhara, Meenal Patel, Rudranil Ghosh, Baharul Islam, Zaheer Mirza, Madhur Mittal, Chaitanya Sharma, Tejas Ravishankar, Davinder Gill, Amartya Ray, Sushant Waydande and Abhilash Thapliyal
Director: Amit Sharma
Release Date: 10th March 2024 in cinema
Story: Set in 1952, movie revolves around Syed Abdul Rahim (Ajay Devgn) who is the coach of the Indian football team which has been performing miserably. Roy Choudhry (Gajraj Rao) is a prominent sports journalist and the editor who slams the Indian football team. A heated meeting of the Football Federation, which pins the blame on Rahim, ends in Rahim being given the responsibility of selecting the team himself as he is held answerable for the performance of the team.
It takes four years to create a new fresh team. Under his guidance Team India became first ever football team to qualify for the Semi Finals of 1956 Summer Olympics. They put up an impressive game in 1960 Rome Olympics but failed to qualify. They are entitled as “Brazil of Asia” where they played in a 4-2-4 formation.
But a stage comes when the Federation once again blames him for the under-performance of the Indian team. There is politics galore in the Federation which now decides to hire the services of a new coach. This bad news coincides with another bad news in Rahim’s personal life.
one day, Rahim approaches the Federation once again with a request to be appointed the coach over again.
Much to the chagrin of the Federation president Shubhankar (Rudranil Ghosh) reappointed him the team coach. How while fighting his own personal battle, he steers the Indian football team to victory in the Asian World Cup is what the latter part of the story is all about.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Dialogues
3. Direction
4. Cinematography
5. Story
6. Climax
Negatives
1. Length
2. Screenplay
3. 1st half
4. Music
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on its release date as loved the trailer and it’s based on golden era of India Football Team.
The film runs from 1952 to 1962, follows the life and career of Syed Abdul Rahim who is a renowned football coach who transformed the sport in India. Because of his significant contributions to football, the Indian Football Team was dubbed the ‘Brazil of Asia’ and played in a 4-2-4 shape.
Maidaan story is fascinating and what works is that not many people are aware of this chapter of history. The movie is tidily made and shows all that Syed Abdul Rahim had to go through, in his short yet meaningful life. Casting of the players, to cinematography, complex camera-shots in the match sequences and the adrenaline-filled background score, the movie nails it all. From the first scene to the last, the beautiful amalgamation of scale backed by vision is clearly visible. It is the last 20 minutes of Maidaan where your patience truly gets rewarded and you leave the auditorium with an emotional high, that very few films can give you. Amit Sharma direction is very good as it’s not easy to pull off a sport film, but he succeeds and how. He peppers the football scenes with a lot of nail-biting and thrilling moments. The film offers a completely new perspective and will make you cheer for the real-life unsung stars of the film. Staying true to the purpose behind making this sports biopic, Amit honors the players who were/are alive when the shoot was in progress. Ajay Devgn is terrific, to say the least. He has given several outstanding performances but the one in MAIDAAN will go down as one of his greatest acts. His character goes through a lot and the way he has essayed it is seen to be believed. The sports scenes are shot in such a manner that viewers will get sucked into the goings-on.
On the flipside, the first half is a bit weak and the length at this hour could have been shorter. The absence of light moments and the not-a-completely-emotionally-moving family drama are underlined in the first half because it is weak. The initial football matches don’t leave the desired impact and the same goes for the football training sequence before the intermission. The template that the movie follows is overused and thus there isn’t much novelty in terms of the storytelling and the screenplay. The narration is mostly flat. All the antagonist episodes through the film are very clichéd and feel forced, and it goes against the film’s otherwise subtle treatment.
Overall, movie is not only a treat for football enthusiasts but also quite a delight for movie lovers. It immortalizes the unsung hero Syed Abdul Rahim after whom India never qualified for the Olympics. The movie delves into the numerous sacrifices made by the players and the coach especially, emphasizing the human element behind the desire of excellence. It is one of the finest sports-based films of Bollywood that rests on captivating drama, strong emotions, clap worthy moments, and a National Award-worthy performance by Ajay Devgn. My view on this movie Highly Recommended.
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