Poster of the film ‘Maidaan’ based on the life of former Indian football coach Syed Abdul Rahim
Actor Ajay Devgn and ‘Maidaan’ film-makers might land in trouble with the Telangana government taking a serious view of their alleged failure to pay a royalty to the family of former Indian football coach Syed Abdul Rahim on whose life Bollywood film ‘Maidaan’ was based.
Mr. Devgn played the role of the legendary football coach who ensured India made it to the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the first Asian team to do so.
Sources said the family members of Mr. Rahim poured out their woes to the officials of Chief Minister’s Office recently and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was baffled at the insensitivity of the film-makers and ordered the police to inquire.
Family members of Rahim informed the officials that Mr. Devgn and the film-makers promised them royalty while seeking information on his personal and professional life apart from the trivia that could be included in the film’s script. But once the biopic was released to critics acclaim and commercial gains, they did not come back to fulfil the promise.
A police case might be booked against Mr Devgn and other film-makers for ‘cheating’ after an enquiry as the Chief Minister was angry that the commercial motives masking moral values cannot be accepted and he saw it as an insult to a legend like Rahim.
Though the film immortalised Rahim’s contribution to Indian football introducing him to several generations who have not heard of him, it was not fair for the film-makers to ignore his family members, an official argued.
The film’s release itself was marred by controversies over the allegations of plagiarism with a Karnataka-based writer Anil Kumar claiming that it was his script. The Mysore Sessions court stayed the film’s release on his suit, but the Karnataka High Court lifted the stay helping it to be released worldwide on April 11, 2024, coinciding with Eid.
The film is produced by Akash Chawla, Boney Kapoor, Arunava Joy Sengupta and Zee Studios and directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma.
