Ajay Devgn to Play Legendary Football Coach Syed Abdul Rahim Biopic
It’s raining biopics in Bollywood these days. The success of ‘Chak De’, ‘Dangal’, ‘Sanju’ has inspired many filmmakers to foray into the genre. Today on the release day of ‘Soorma’, a biopic on India’s legendary hockey player Sandeep Singh, Ajay Devgn announced that he too will be doing a sports biopic. Shah Rukh Khan (Chak De), Salman Khan (Sultan), Aamir Khan (Dangal) and Akshay Kumar (Gold) have already tried their hands at the sports biopic genre and now it’s Ajay’s turn. He will play football coach Syed Abdul Rahim in the film which will be directed by ad film director Amit Sharma.
There couldn’t have been a better time for the makers to announce the film than now when the FIFA World Cup 2018 fever has taken over the entire world.
Making the official announcement about the yet untitled-movie, Zee Studios took to Twitter and wrote, “Elated and proud to announce a story never told as @ZeeStudios_ #BoneyKapoor & @freshlimefilms come together for a biopic on India’s legendary #Football coach, Syed Abdul Rahim, starring @ajaydevgn, directed by @CinemaPuraDesi, screenplay by @SaiwynQ, and dialogues by @writish.”
Elated and proud to announce a story never told as @ZeeStudios_ #BoneyKapoor & @freshlimefilms come together for a biopic on India’s legendary #Football coach, Syed Abdul Rahim, starring @ajaydevgn, directed by @CinemaPuraDesi, screenplay by @SaiwynQ, and dialogues by @writish. pic.twitter.com/vzaLJya67x
— Zee Studios (@ZeeStudios_) July 13, 2018
Syed Abdul Rahim served the Indian Football team as its coach and manager from 1950-1963. It was under his guidance that the Indian team won Gold at the 1962 Asian Games and also reached the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He died of cancer at a relatively younger age of 54.
Talking about Devgn playing the lead role in the sports biopic, Boney Kapoor told Indian Express, “An actor like Ajay is most apt for essaying this character. We hope that the film inspires millions of youngsters and soon India plays in the World Cup and becomes a potent force in World Football.” Adding more about the film, he continued, “It’s amazing to see football, world’s biggest game, having such a fever in India, and yet our team is not being sent to important tournaments. When my partners Akash Chawla and Joy Sengupta brought me the true story of Syed Abdul Rahim, I was amazed that not many are even aware of this unsung hero and the achievements of that great team which had heroes like Chunni Goswami, P.K. Banerjee, Balaram, Franco, Arun Ghosh among others. With the momentum of Khelo India getting pace, it’s time to push India.”
Just two days ago, Ajay had announced that he will be playing Chanakya in his next. The next two years are going to be super hectic for Ajay with films like Total Dhamaal, Sons of Sardaar: The Battle of Saragarhi and Luv Ranjan’s untitled film with Ranbir Kapoor.
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