Titled "Maidaan", the movie will be directed by Amit Ravinder Nath Sharma of 'Badhaai Ho!' fame. It will feature south star Keerthy Suresh opposite Devgn. The Indian football team won a Gold at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta and reached the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when Syed was the coach. Ajay Devgn will portray Syed Abdul Rahim.
Ajay Devgn shared the first poster of 'Maidaan' making this announcement and his message reads - "#maidaankicksoff today!".
Saiwyn Quadros will write the screenplay, while Ritesh Shah will pen the dialogues.
The film is presented by Zee Studios and Boney Kapoor. Talking about the film, producer Boney Kapoor had earlier said, "I was amazed that not many are aware of someone as significant as Syed Abdul Rahim. He's an unsung hero whose achievements must be saluted. His team had heroes like Chunni Goswami, PK Banerjee, Balaram, Franco and Arun Ghosh. It takes someone like Ajay Devgn to play Syed Abdul Rahim. With him on board, I can just hope that our film inspires youngsters to play football, and India soon to bring the World Cup home."
Talking about the shooting locations of the film, Boney said, "We will film in three cities - Indonesia's Jakarta, Italy's Rome and Australia's Melbourne - to remain true to the events."
South Indian actress Keerthy Suresh will play the role of Ajay's wife in the film. It is for the first time that Ajay and Keerthy will share screen space. Keerthy won the National Film Award for Best Actress this year for 'Mahanati'.
Boney Kapoor will also serve as the producer along with Akash Chawla and Arunava Joy Sengupta.
(With inputs from PTI)