Blockbuster sports biopic Maidaan opens in Australian cinemas 10 April

MEDIA RELEASE

MELBOURNE: One of India’s largest film production houses, Zee Studios in conjunction with renowned Indian film producers Boney Kapoor, Arunava Joy Sengupta, Akash Chawla have announced the worldwide release of their highly anticipated film Maidaan. The film celebrates the golden era of Indian football and is scheduled to release in cinemas Australia wide on EID April 10, 2024. Esteemed Indian cinema star Ajay Devgn steps into the enormous shoes of Indian football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, who catapulted his country onto the global football stage. Alongside Devgn, celebrated Indian actress Priyamani stars in this sports biopic, along with admired actor Gajraj Rao.

Syed Abdul Rahim is widely celebrated as the founding father of Indian football, is the central figure in this sports biopic. The film beautifully captures his true story, masterfully narrating the challenges, sacrifices, and triumphs of both Rahim and his underdog football team as they strive to overcome sociopolitical obstacles and etch their names on the global football stage. He also played for a Dutch club HSV Hoek before coaching the Indian Football Team, one of the first few Indian players to play for an European club. The team went onto to be hailed as ‘the Brazil of Asia’ and comprised of legendary players such as P.K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Tulsidas Balram, who was called “Pele of Asia”, as well as Jarnail Singh, and Neville Dsouza who was first Asian to score a hat-trick in the history of Olympic football at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma (director of Badhaai Ho) Maidaan delves into this historic period in Indian football, spanning between 1952 and 1962, chronicling Rahim's journey as he leads India to historic achievements, including becoming Asia's first-ever football team to qualify for the Semi Finals of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.

Actor, Ajay Devgn says, “"Maidaan is my personal favourite. I rarely say this. It is one of the best films I've done. It has shaped up very well. Every department of the film, the storytelling, the direction, the performances, everything looks outstanding. It is a big cinema experience with the matches and the drama and all that. We would want people to see it in the theatres.”

The impact of Indian cinema in recent times cannot be overstated, particularly in Australia, where almost one-third of film releases in Australia have been from India. Unsurprisingly India is now the global leader in film outputs - with an astonishing 1,500 to 2,000 films released each year in more than 20 different languages. With India sitting as the largest diaspora in the Australia now, Indian cinema has a huge domestic audience.

Produced by Zee Studios, Boney Kapoor, Arunava Joy Sengupta and Akash Chawla, screenplay and dialogues are written by Saiwyn Quadras and Ritesh Shah respectively, music by AR Rahman and lyrics by Manoj Muntashir Shukla. The film is all set to release worldwide in theatres on Eid, April 10, 2024.

Talent and creative team available by arrangement. For interview requests, please contact aisling@aislingenterprises.com.au 

BIOS

Producer – Boney Kapoor

Achal Surinder "Boney" Kapoor (born 11 November 1955) is an Indian film producer primarily associated with Hindi cinema in addition to Tamil cinema and Telugu cinema. The most famous film produced by him remains the Shekhar Kapur directed sci-fi film Mr India starring his brother Anil Kapoor and his future wife Sridevi. It was the second biggest hit of 1987 and remains a cult classic in India. In 2009, Kapoor produced Wanted starring Salman Khan. The film broke many records at the box office upon release, due to Khan's comeback. Wanted was the second highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2009.[19] It had an excellent opening, grossing Rs. 440 million in the first week.[20] It shattered records in Pakistan, grossing over Rs. 1750 million in its first weekend, which was a record for any Indian film.[21] It grossed Rs. 1012.5 million in India and Rs. 260.6 million overseas.[22][23][24]

He acquired the Tamil and Telugu remake rights of 2016 Hindi film Pink. He produced the Tamil version of the film in 2019 as Nerkonda Paarvai, which became a critical and commercial success. Later in 2021, he produced the Telugu version of the film along with Dil Raju of Sri Venkateswara Creations as Vakeel Saab[25] starring Pawan Kalyan, Anjali, Nivetha Thomas and Ananya Nagalla in lead roles. The film is the highest opener in India post the COVID-19 pandemic, netting over ₹38 crore on its first day.[26] Both the films are his debut into Tamil and Telugu cinema respectively.

Director - Amit Ravindernath Sharma

Amit Ravindernath is an Indian director and producer. He is best known for the 2018 film Badhaai Ho, which was one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2018, having earned ₹220.34 crore ($31 million) as of December 2018. Sharma worked as the director on Badhaai Ho, which began shooting in late 2017, and starred Ayushmann Khurrana and Neena Gupta.  Sharma's production company Chrome Pictures produced the film alongside Junglee Pictures, and it was released on 18 October 2018. The film became the seventh-highest opening weekend grosser of 2018 and earned ₹220.34 crore ($31 million) worldwide.

Cast - Ajay Devgn

Vishal Veeru Devgan known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director, and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. A leading actor of Hindi cinema, Devgn has appeared in over 100 films and has won numerous accolades, including four National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards. In 2016, he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, the country's fourth-highest civilian honour.

Cast – Priyamani

Priya Mani Raj née Iyer, known by her stage name Priyamani, is an Indian actress. She is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards South. She predominantly work in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam languages films.

Cast – Gajraj Rao

Gajraj Rao is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi films. He is widely known for his performance in the comedy-drama film Badhaai Ho for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.