Amit R Sharma: ‘Told casting director I want humshakals’

Ajay Devgn in Maidaan

How does one cast for a biopic? In the words of Maidaan's director Amit R Sharma, you get someone who resembles the real person. But it doesn't end there. The Ajay Devgn-led sports drama, based on the life of manager-coach Syed Abdul Rahim, traces the Indian football team's rise in the international arena between 1952 and 1962. So, the film also demanded actors who played the sport. "I wanted people who can play football, act well, and match the [original players'] physicality to the T," starts Sharma. "I made my casting director Vaibhav's [Vishant] life hell. I told him, ‘I want humshakals'."

Arun Ghosh is played by Aaman Munshi

The casting began in 2019, with the team scouting for faces across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Hoshiarpur, West Bengal, Kerala and Goa. With Devgn in the central role, Sharma needed to build a team of 11, depicting the Indian squad of the '50s that included Subimal Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee, and Tulsidas Balaram. While Chaitanya Sharma steps into Banerjee's shoes, Amartya Ray plays Goswami and Aaman Munshi is Arun Ghosh. The director recalls, "From 6,000 actors, I picked 11. My film had to be authentic. PK Banerjee sir told me, ‘Whoever you get for my role, he should have big thighs like me.' I wasn't sure if the thighs would be a replica, but the faces match. He came to the Kolkata set, in a wheelchair."

The late PK Banerjee has been essayed by Chaitanya Sharma

Under Rahim's leadership, the Indian team won gold medals in the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games, and played the semi-final of the 1956 Summer Olympics. Sadly, the talented players have been forgotten in our cricket-obsessed country. Sharma rues, "Other than football-playing states like Kerala, Goa, and West Bengal, no one knows about the laurels of the '50s. Sir Stanley Rous, who was the FIFA chief, gave India the moniker ‘Brazil of Asia'. We were that good. PK Banerjee was so powerful that he would tear the net. Chuni Goswami was a goal scorer. Arun Ghosh was a fabulous defender."

The late Chuni Goswami, played by Amartya Ray, led India at the 1962 Asian Games

With Maidaan, Sharma wants to give Rahim's team the glory they deserved. "I've made the film as a tribute to the players. Syed Rahim's dream was to see football being played in every gully of the country. Can't we find 11 players in a population of 140 crore? In the 1960 Olympics, a burly man praised Balaram's game and asked him for his jersey. That man was the late Muhammad Ali."

Amit R Sharma