'There is no effect of clash between Bade Miyan and Chhote Miyan': Maidan director Amit Sharma said – People will watch both the films; Said- Was shocked to hear the story

You might have heard the names of many players and coaches of cricket and hockey, but you might not know about Syed Abdul Rahim, who showed Indian football its golden era. Syed Abdul Rahim was the coach and manager of the Indian National Football Team from 1952 to 1962.

The film Maidan based on his life will be released on April 10. Ajay Devgan has played the character of Syed Abdul Rahim. The making of this film had started in 2019 itself, but it kept moving forward due to Covid. The film's director Amit Sharma has talked to Dainik Bhaskar about the film.

Amit said that there will be no impact on the clash between Bade Mian and Chhote Mian. People will like both the films. Amit said that when he heard the story of Syed Abdul Rahim, he was surprised as to why people did not know about such a person.

The film got stuck for four years due to Covid
The shooting of Maidaan started in 2019, but it took more than four years to release. Explaining the reason for the delay, director Amit Sharma said, 'We started shooting the film in August 2019. By February 2020, 65% of the film was finished. After this Covid engulfed the entire country.

We still had a lot of sequences left. Players had to come from abroad for the shooting, shooting of many scenes involving matches was stuck. There was a lot of VFX to be used in the film. Due to this also there was a lot of delay.

Ajay Devgan has played the role of coach Syed Abdul Rahim, who showed the golden era of Indian football in the film Maidan.

The budget also increased, the set was destroyed
Amit Sharma said, 'Due to Covid, the budget of the film had also increased a lot. When the cyclone came in between, the set which was standing for three and a half years also got damaged. We had to make a second set. Meanwhile, many people said that it is taking so much time to make it, so make another film in between. However, my goal was clear that I would concentrate completely on one film at a time.

There is no effect of clash between elder brother and younger brother.
It will clash with Akshay Kumar and Tiger's film Bade Miyan-Chhote Miyan. Obviously this may cause some damage to both the films. Could this clash have been avoided? Amit replied, 'It is the producer's call as to when he wants to release his film. Anyway, both the films are releasing on Eid. There is a long holiday on Eid, so despite the clash, both the films will earn well. I want people to enjoy both the films.

A photo taken during the shooting of the film.

Who was Syed Abdul Rahim, I myself did not know
Amit Sharma said that he had received a call from Boney Kapoor during the post production of the film Badhaai Ho. Boney asked him to listen to the story of Syed Abdul Rahim. Amit said, 'When Boney Kapoor Sahab asked me to listen to the story of Syed Abdul Rahim, my answer was that who is he? After hearing the story, I asked people if this had really happened. If this had happened then why do we not know anything about it till now.

We were so good at football, why didn't we know about it? People like Syed Abdul Rahim wanted the country's name to be known on the world stage through football. The story of the film is shown between 1952 and 1962. By 1952, only four-five years had passed since our country got independence. Syed Abdul Rahim wanted India to be known across the world through some means or the other, for this he worked to promote Indian football. Sadly, we did not know anything about him before today.

The film is releasing on April 10 on the occasion of Eid.

Priyamani was cast in place of Keerthi Suresh
Earlier, South's famous actress Keerthy Suresh was also going to be cast in this film. What happened was that Priyamani came on board in her place. Maybe he had lost too much weight? Amit says, 'I felt that Kriti was not fit for that particular role. She also understood this. Then we cast Priyamani. Casting him was successful. He has done such tremendous work in the film, which I cannot explain.

Gold and Chak De India are fictional, but Maidan is a real story based film.
Maidan is also being compared to the films Gold and Chak De India, what can we say about this. Amit said, 'Gold and Chak De India were not films based on true events. Maidan is absolutely a real story based film. The story is also completely different. It has nothing to do with those two films.