- Release Date: 10/04/2024
- Cast: Ajay Devgn, Priyamani, Gajraj Rao, Rudranil Ghosh
- Director: Amit Ravindernath Sharma
Ajay Devgn Shines in In an Inspiring and Heart-warming Tribute To SA Rahim, The Architect of Modern Indian Football
— Ambar Chatterjee
Syed Abdul Rahim (17 August 1909 – 11 June 1963), popularly known as Rahim Saab, was an Indian football coach and manager of the Indian national team from 1950 until he died in 1963. A former player, he is regarded as the architect of modern Indian football. A teacher by profession, he was a strong motivator, and his tenure as a coach is regarded as the Golden Age of football in India. Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s film, “Maidaan,” featuring Ajay Devgn as Rahim Saab, delves into the life and times of the legendary football coach, attempting to decipher his deft coaching techniques that catapulted Indian Football to great heights. The film also endeavours to explore the personal life of Rahim Saab with his wife and children the toll that his national coaching duties and the ups and downs that came with it had on his family and the ones who loved him. The focus of the narrative, however, lies on how Rahim Saab beats all odds to take the Indian football team to the Asian Games gold medal, beating the indomitable South Korea in the finals.
Sports biopics have been a regular occurrence in Bollywood of late, with some being as good as “Soorma” and the rest as unthinkably bad as “Azhar”. To attempt to condense the rather long and illustrious career of a legendary coach like SA Rahim into a 3-hour film, with some emphasis on his personal life and decoding the human being that he was, was no easy task. One also had to ensure the dramatic payoffs in a film of this nature, where the emotional curves were not as pronounced or uneven as some of the other tales where individual exploits took centerstage and one could design dramatic, inspiring and bravura moments that were a mishmash of reality and fiction.
Amit Ravindernath Sharma also couldn’t go overboard with his theatrics, since the film was the biopic of a man whose life was rather extensively documented, and any major changes would have been easily discovered and ridiculed. Hence, the task here was to conjure a story that was rooted in realism but still had enough dramatic punch, and the same was delivered with enough nuance and gusto to make its way out to the audiences and resonate with them at an emotional and patriotic level. At least for me, Amit Ravindernath Sharma was successful in achieving this with his film, and in this review, I will attempt to explain why.
Fascinating Choreography of The Sports Action That Has Enough Drama to Inspire and Make You Emotional:
This is one aspect where Bollywood often cuts corners, leaving us with sports films that feel authentic and realistic in every other aspect except the portion that matters the most: the sports sequences. Just thinking about the cricket matches in “Azhar” makes me sick to the core. Having said that, films like Kabir Khan’s phenomenal “83” and Shaad Ali’s fantastic “Soorma” did everything in their strength to create sports action that was in strong keeping with all that was possible to pull off within their respective budgets.
From the trailer of ‘Maidaan,’ I had hoped that the film would feature some of the best football action that we have seen in Bollywood films, and it delivered on that promise to a great extent. I was enamoured by the amount of care and the penchant for detail that was paid in these sequences. The makers ensured that the action felt fresh. They achieved this by incorporating different means of capturing the football action, innovative angles of capturing the action, infusing a sense of physicality, motion, and breakneck speed, exacerbating tension in all that was unfolding on the pitch. Most importantly, they edited the matches to a level that made the audience anxious yet never gave them enough time to closely look at the technicalities to find flaws that would otherwise appear invisible to the untrained eye.
The director also infuses these sports sequences with enough drama, emotions, and patriotism to make a far more pronounced impact on the audience than what would have been possible only with finesse in the technicalities and proficient choreography of the sports action. These dramatic payoffs are wonderfully extracted from the nuanced and yet emotionally charged moments of the sports encounter between the teams. The director lays back on what the team has been led to endure and what is at stake for the team and the coach in order to further enhance the impact of the sports action. All these elements combined together to result in some of the most aesthetically and emotionally rewarding sports action that I have seen in recent times in Bollywood.
Unflinching Focus on The Primary Narrative:
The film’s focus on the primary narrative and condensing a large portion of Rahim’s life in its runtime was noticed and appreciated by me. I like films of this nature that are more interested in telling the story of the exploits and the professional achievements of a man like Rahim Saab rather than concentrating on his personal life, of which there is limited information and which also wasn’t the primary factor of his reputation and reverence.
Yes, the film does introduce a few scenes here and there to show us his family dynamics and his chemistry with his son, who also becomes a great footballer but is left out of the final team for the Asian Games by his father. The interaction between father and son after this decision is made is what the film was building up to from the very beginning, and it is milked to the last ounce of sentimentality and emotional payoff that it contained. Rahim Saab derives his strength to rediscover himself after learning about his cancer and nearly surrendering to dying at his home without putting up one final fight after he is also summarily discharged from his national coaching duties from his wife (wonderfully essayed by Priyamani) and how she perceives him. This is another sequence that is exceptionally executed and says more than what many films in their entirety are able to deliver in terms of emotional payoff. It is also something that is underplayed, and for that reason, it works better.
If that was not enough, multiple sequences of interaction between Rahim Saab and the Indian Football Federation depict different times in the coach’s career and are punctuated by emotional and dramatic moments that unfold with the members of the Federation. These moments are well done too and serve their purpose in the narrative. The film does feel a little flat in the first half with no major highs or lows, but this is something that is taken care of in the second half, where we are treated with some poignant drama resulting from Rahim Saab’s unquenchable thirst for international glory for his team and his indomitable spirit of never giving up even when faced with the harshest adversities.
The film does take its share of creative liberties and plays with the timeline of the discovery of Rahim Saab’s cancer in order to use it to stir up drama and sentiments, but that is not something that feels odd or out of place. On the contrary, it feels like the best creative liberty that the director could have taken.
Ajay Devgn’s Stellar Performance:
This was something that was never in question or doubt. Ajay Devgn has always been the mainstay of any film that has relied on him and his performance to sustain interest and deliver the dramatic payload. Here too, he puts his best foot forward and delivers a restrained and powerful performance. I absolutely loved the duality of the character that he brings out so astoundingly with his essay.
In the first half of the film, Rahim Saab is portrayed as a self-assured and authoritative gentleman who is not afraid to take on the might of some of the most powerful people in the Indian Sports Scene. He does so with comparative ease and a sense of ease and attitude that is infectiously charming. These sequences are accentuated by a fantastic background score and, better still, editing.
Towards the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half, his character goes through a tough period and somewhat surrenders to his fate and imminent death. Devgn is fantastic even in these moments. The stark difference in the attitude towards the life of the same man in these two portions of the film was beautifully captured and brought out by the performance of the man.
As he sets out on a path of self-discovery and pursues his last and elusive dream in the final act of the film, Devgn’s performance metamorphoses for the third time. He regains his power and gusto, but he is a very sombre and restrained man this time. Even with that, there is a brooding sense of pride and power that Devgn is able to continually document through his essay which adds so much to the narrative and the overall success of the film.
Final Words:
“Maidaan” boasts some great supporting performances from the likes of Gajraj Rao, Rudranil Ghosh, and Assam’s very own Baharul Islam. Gajraj Rao and Rudranil, in particular, portray characters that are onerous in bringing down Rahim Saab for their own personal vendettas against him, quickly turning into enemies of the entire team. The way they came around to respecting Rahim Saab and basking in the glory of the team in the end, however, was heartwarming and one of the most enjoyable aspects of the film.
“Maidaan” is a proficiently made, wonderfully acted, and emotionally resonating biopic of a man who literally took Indian Football to the grave with him. At a time like this, when Indian Football is at an all-time low, I absolutely loved the fact that a film like “Maidaan” was made. This should work as a reminder of what we were capable of achieving in the football landscape of the world and how little we have actually pulled off. Who knows, this might just emancipate a generation of young footballers who might go on to turn the tides of failure and establish India as a footballing powerhouse. I know this is all very wishful thinking, but who says we are not allowed to dream?
Ambar Chatterjee's Reviews 