saurav banerjee

Maidaan released on OTT last week which gave me an opportunity to witness this biopic that covers the golden era of Indian football. I had the good fortune of getting an autograph from legendary Indian goalkeeper Peter Thangraj when he visited my father's office in my childhood - when I came to know about Maidaan, I was curious to see how well the makers can potray the magic onscreen. After watching this movie twice, from different perspectives and with different audience groups, in a span of 24hrs I can say that it matches Chak De! on multiple counts. On few other fronts, it actually surpasses Chak De! because of its realism and emotional connect. It also taught me few strategies about the game and how a coach can turn things around from outside the field. Most importantly the movie leaves behind a question - if one man could win so many laurels in 10 yrs with limited resources, what went wrong in the next 62 years that Indian team couldn't even come close to those stellar performances? On the negatives, I have deducted a star for the slow buildup which made my wife take a power nap for few minutes 😆

Very simple yet superb movie on a sensitive and important subject...Stupendous acting by Divyendu and Patralekha! Superlative writing: keeps you hooked with questions, builds the unlikely chemistry between the lead pair uniquely etc.