Ajay Devgn scores a perfect goal in this sports drama

MAIDAAN Cast: Ajay Devgn, Priya Mani Raj, Gajraj Rao, Rudranil Ghosh Direction: Amit Sharma

Asportsperson’s journey, a team’s incredible victory or an unsung coach’s story — sports dramas, in most cases, manage to seamlessly blend adrenaline with emotions. While watching Ajay Devgn-starrer Maidaan, I felt the same satisfaction that I had felt while witnessing brilliant cinematic lms such as Chak De! India (2007) nd MS Dhoni: The Untold Story 2016). An in-depth and well-made biographical film, this Amit Sharma directorial celebrates the golden era of Indian football between the 1950s and ’60s, and sheds light on the remarkable contribution of coach Syed Abdul Rahim.

The film chronicles coach Rahim’s (Devgn) journey after his embarrassing defeat at the Summer Olympics in Finland in 1952. Determined to make a comeback at the next Olympics and Asian Games, he requests the Indian football federation to allow him to select and train a handpicked team. On this journey, he faces many challenges: the internal politics within the federation mostly led by Shubhankar (Rudranil Ghosh), pressure from a vindictive and influential sports journalist, Roy Choudhary (Gajraj Rao) and political unrest. Despite this, Rahim refuses to bow down.

Maidaan’s questionable runtime of three hours, gets justified when you watch the film as a wholesome account of the events leading up to India’s win at the 1962 Asian Games. Sharma clearly hasn’t rushed into anything. Instead, he gives equal attention to each character. Barring a few dragged scenes, there isn’t a dull moment.

In terms of performances, Devgn is undeniably the soul of the film. Very different from Shah Rukh Khan’s Kabir Khan in Chak De! India, Devgn brings his own swag on screen with a cigarette perpetually burning between his fingers. His restrained yet stirring performance brings gravitas to the scenes. In some of the emotionally charged segments, Devgn moves you to the extent that you might have to make a run for the tissue box. In the expressions department, however, I felt he could have brought in a little more variation, as I could barely make out if he indeed smiled after his team secured a win.

Complementing him well, actor Priya Mani Raj acts as his support system. Some really endearing scenes between the two subtly bring in the romance factor. Rao and Ghosh are pretty good as the bad men, and they effortlessly make you hate their characters with their cunning camaraderie, though after a point, their villainy gets a tad too dragged. Watch out for actor Abhilash Thapliyal in the commentary box, giving us a lowdown of all the football matches, and clearly, his skills as a former RJ came in handy with all the voice modulation.

A special mention to the bunch of fresh faces who put their best foot forward, sweating it out while kicking the ball out of the park: Chaitanya Sharma as PK Banerjee, Tejas Ravishankar as Peter Thangaraj, Davinder Gill as Jarnail Singh, Amartya Ray as Chuni Goswami, Sushant Waydande as Tulsidas Balaram and Tanmay Bhattacharjee as Pradyut Barman among others.

Nevertheless, Maidaan makes for a stunning sports spectacle, where you may feel the frenzy of watching a real tournament in a jam-packed stadium. The football scenes in the stadium serve several nail-biting and wow moments.

However, the film does get melodramatic, which could have been avoided. But what’s a sports film without a bit of drama?