Dinesh Kamath's Movie Column 'Ajay Devgn to act in football coach Syed Abdul Rahim's biopic' that was published in Newsband

Movie Column

Ajay Devgn to act in football coach Syed Abdul Rahim's biopic

By Dinesh Kamath

Ajay Devgn will feature in football coach Syed Abdul Rahim's biopic. The film will be directed by Amit Sharma and is slated to hit the floors in June. Boney Kapoor is one of the producers of the film.

Ajay Devgn was last seen in Total Dhamaal. The multi-starrer also featured Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Arsad Warsi, Javed Jaffery and more.

After cracking up the audience with his character Guddu in Total Dhamaal, Ajay is all set to take cameras to a football field.The actor will feature in football coach Syed Abdul Rahim's biopic.

The film will be directed by Amit Sharma.
The film will be produced by Boney Kapoor, along with with Akash Chawla and Arunava Joy Sengupta. Ajay will play the lead role in the film. It is also reported that South Indian actress Keerthy Suresh will play the role of Ajay's wife in the film.

In the initial phase, they will shoot in Indian cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata and Mumbai. The lead characters will age over a span of 15 years without resorting to prosthetics. Indian football team won Gold at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta and reached the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when Syed was the coach.

They will film in three countries - Jakarta, Rome and Melbourneto remain true to the events.

Thus after delivering several blockbuster films including Singham, Action Jackson, Shivaay, Gangaajal and more, Ajay Devgn is ready to set the stage on fire yet again with a biopic, based on the life of Syed Abdul Rahim, who was India’s football coach between 1950 and 1963. The actor is currently shooting for his film Taanaji: The Unsung Hero.

During Syed's tenure as a coach, the Indian football team won Gold at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta and reached the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Now a few words about Syed Abdul Rahim whose role Ajay Devgn will be playing. Syed Abdul Rahim (17 August 1909 – 11 June 1963) was an Indian football coach and manager of the Indian national team from 1950 until his death in 1963 and a former player. He is regarded as the architect of modern Indian football. Basically a teacher by profession, he was a good motivator and his tenure as a coach is regarded as a "golden age" of football in India. He led the Indian team to the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Football tournament making India the first ever Asian country to achieve this place.

Rahim was born on 17 August 1909 in Hyderabad, India. His career started as a coach and secretary of Hyderabad City Police from 1943 until 1963. Later he was associated with the national team. During Rahim's tenure, the Indian football team enjoyed a great deal of success. Apart from winning the Asian games in 1951 and 1962, India also reached the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics which is still considered India's greatest ever achievement in football.

He selected his son, Syed Shahid Hakim for the 1960 Summer Olympics tournament.

Rahim's last success was at the Jakarta Asian games in 1962 where India went on to win gold, beating South Korea in the finals in front of a crowd of 100,000.

Syed Abdul Rahim died from cancer on 11 June 1963.

Here is an interesting happeing in the life of Rahim, the miracle man of IndianFootball 

Three days after a gritty 3-2 win over South Vietnam in the semi-final of the Asian Games, the Indian football team gets ready to take on a strong South Korean team in the gold medal match. Only a little over a week earlier, India had started its campaign with a 2-0 loss to the Koreans in the league phase. This time, the stakes are much higher. Unfortunately for India, the injury count ahead of the final doesn't look encouraging.

Jarnail Singh, a defender who is asked to deputise as a striker in the game, has a deep gash on his forehead. Trilok Singh, another defender, has a toe injury. The biggest concern, however, is goalkeeper Peter Thangaraj, who is down with the flu. All of them ignore their maladies and feature in the line-up for the match.

The Indian team makes a blistering start and score two goals within the first 20 minutes, courtesy of P K Banerjee and Jarnail Singh. The Koreans are stunned, and by the time they unlock the Indian defence, it is already too late. The game finishes 2-1 to India in 90 minutes. Jarnail Singh is covered in blood as his wound opens up late into the game, but everything is forgotten once the final whistle blows. Wild celebrations ensue in the Indian camp.

Amidst the jubilant celebrations, the Indian head coach calmly steps into the pitch to congratulate his players. For well over a decade, he has been the brain behind the Indian national team. Having groomed some of the best players in Indian football's history, he is the man responsible for turning India into one of the best teams of the continent.

The 1962 Asian Games triumph comes at a time of deteriorating health for the Indian coach. Syed Abdul Rahim, or Rahim Saab, as he is lovingly called, has been battling lung cancer for months. Having ignored concerns over his health, he had taken his team to Jakarta a couple of weeks earlier, determined to lead the country to the title it had won 11 years earlier. Two months later, his severely deteriorating health forces him to quit his coaching role. In June 1963, he finally loses his battle to cancer, leaving in his wake a broken footballing nation.

Rahim was like a father, mother, guide and mentor to his players. He had the skill to understand the potential of a player and this probably came from his background as a professor.

Syed Abdul Rahim was a brilliant man-manager. Responsible from grooming players like Chuni Goswami, P K Banerjee, Tulsidas Balaram, Peter Thangaraj, and others, he was extremely popular among his players. His greatest contribution to football, however, was his outstanding tactical innovation. He was the first to introduce the 4-2-4 formation to the Indian game, taking a leaf out of the great Hungarian team from the early 1950s.

In the '50s, he tried a three-man backline with the Indian team, long before the defensive formation was adapted globally. His tactical innovations were even replicated abroad. He was a football prophet."

There is no doubt that Rahim was a man much ahead of his time. After his death in 1963, the Indian team never managed to scale the heights it reached under him.

Over the decades, Syed Abdul Rahim has become a forgotten figure in Indian football. Neither the Indian government nor the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has found it fit to recognise his achievements over the years. Responsible for putting India on the world football map, Rahim's name has been relegated to the pages of history in recent times. The AIFF has treated Rahim like an untouchable.

So be prepared to watch Ajay Devgn play the role of this great footballer Syed Abdul Rahim.