Maidaan

Syed Abdul Rahim coaches the Indian national football team. Through the fifties and sixties he builds it from nothing: choosing players from across the country, from different languages and different states, taking a side that plays barefoot onto the international field. The federation does not want him, the press mocks him and his health fails. The target is the 1962 Asian Games. Amit Sharma directs. Ajay Devgn plays Rahim. The story is real. Rahim is taken as the architect of what is called the golden age of Indian football, and those years remain the highest point the game has reached in the country. What interests the film is the institution rather than the pitch. Regionalism inside the federation, state quotas in team selection and the attrition of the press are at the centre; Rahim's real fight is not with the opposing sides. The match sequences are its strongest element. They were shot on the pitch at player level, and the crowd and sound design were worked separately. It runs close to three hours and that tires the narrative, particularly in the first half. Ajay Devgn plays the character quietly; he does not shout and avoids the motivational speech. It opened in 2024 after a long delay and took less than expected. Who it is for: viewers who like sports films and biography looking at Indian history. Who it is not for: it is very long, the template is familiar, and most supporting characters exist on a single trait.