Ajay Devgn’s sports drama ‘Maidaan’, inspired by a true story, will resume its shoot from January 2021 after the actor-filmmaker confirmed its new release date for the festival of Dussehra on October 15 next year.
Devgn took to his Instagram account and posted: “‘Maidaan’ now releases worldwide in theatres on Dussehra 2021. Shoot commences January 2021.”
In January earlier this year, the actor shared various posters of the sports drama. In one, he is seen kicking a football on the ground and in another, he is seen holding a football as a coach. However, since then the film’s schedule has suffered due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The film is based on and dedicated to the golden years of football in India and is produced Boney Kapoor and Aruneva Joy Sengupta. It is directed by Amit Rabindernath Sharma, the filmmaker behind the 2018 box-office success ‘Badhaai Ho’, and marks the first collaboration of Devgn with the award-winning director.
The film was initially set for a release this year but has since undergone several new dates until the latest announcement this week for a Dussehra release next year. The producers are keen to have a full theatrical release for the film, rather than a release over an over-the-top (OTT) platform like a number of Bollywood films have chosen during the course of the pandemic.
The film tells the life story of Syed Abdul Rahim, a football coach and manager who managed the Indian team in the 1950s. He is credited as the architect of modern Indian football who unleashed a “golden era” for the game in India, leading the country to the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
The film will be shot on a set on the outskirts of Mumbai, which had to be dismantled during the lockdown and then rebuilt for the final schedule of the film’s shoot in the New Year.