Showing posts with label P K Banerjee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label P K Banerjee. Show all posts
Maidaan actor Chaitanya Sharma says that Amit Sharma is “the Virat Kohli of directors”
8:27 AM
Chaitanya, who plays the late P K Banerjee in Maidaan, recalls how football star visited the set in a wheelchair and gifted a personally inscribed book to Ajay Devgn
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 10, 2024)
Chaitanya Sharma aka Slow Cheeta jokes that Amit R Sharma is “the Virat Kohli of directors”. To the rapper-actor, the director is the force that built an on-screen football team for Maidaan. How did he bag the Ajay Devgn-starrer? Out of the blue, says Chaitanya.
“[Until then], I was either a big fish in a small project, or a small fish in a big project. I was shooting for Apna Time Aayega [Gully Boy, 2019] when I was spotted. I used to play for a football league called Roots. That day, we were losing 2-0, and I scored a hat-trick to win us the game. Maidaan’s first assistant director Atul [Shahi] was there to scout for talent. That was the start. Next three months were gruelling because I kept auditioning again and again. I had to learn a monologue in Bengali. When I was sent to train in March 2019, I realized it’s happening for me,” he recalls.
Chaitanya, who steps into the shoes of the late P K Banerjee, says the opportunity left him stunned. “P K Banerjee was the [Indian] footballer of the century, and it sounded unbelievable that I could crack it,” he shares.
Through Devgn’s character of coach-manager Syed Abdul Rahim, the sports drama looks at Indian football’s golden era between 1952 and 1962. Chaitanya’s most memorable day of the shoot was when Banerjee visited the set in Kolkata.
“I was shooting the entry sequence the day he dropped by. I was flying through the field that day. I saw the man in a wheelchair watching someone play him. His biggest asset, his legs, had given way because he was paralyzed. He gave a book to Ajay sir, and opened the first page to sign it for him. His hand wasn’t stable, so I thought he’d write his initials. But he wrote Pradip Kumar Banerjee. It took him five minutes, but he did it. That underscores his spirit. I was sobbing when he left. Yesterday, I found out that his daughter watched the film and thought I did justice to his part. What can be a better compliment than that!”
Even though he featured in Gully Boy, Chaitanya considers Maidaan his debut. For him, it’s the most emotional experience of his life. “When I did Gully Boy, I’d tell people I star in the film. But for Maidaan, I tell everyone, ‘My movie is out this week.’ This film is a tribute to the men whose stories have remained untold, and we were lucky to tell the tale.”
P K Banerjee, who was the first Indian football player to receive the Arjuna Award
I made Maidaan's casting director Vaibhav Vishant's life hell. I told him, ‘I want humshakals’-Amit Sharma
8:37 AM
Arun Ghosh is played by Aaman Munshi
Maidaan director on how he went through 6,000 audition tapes to find 11 actors who’d portray PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami and other football greats in his sports drama
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 6, 2024)
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’.”
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, P K 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.”
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.”
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.”
The late Chuni Goswami, played by Amartya Ray, led India at the 1962 Asian Games
The late P K Banerjee has been essayed by Chaitanya Sharma
Image: Ajay Devgn has a special visitor on the sets of Maidaan
10:43 AM
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; February 10, 2020)
A few weeks ago, Ajay Devgn wrapped up the Kolkata schedule of his upcoming sports drama, Maidaan, helmed by National Award-winner, Amit Ravindranath Sharma. The actor-producer plays Syed Abdul Rahim, one of the most successful coaches of the Indian national football team in the 1960s, in the film.So, it was a special moment for the cast and crew when P K Banerjee, a former football player who once played in the team that was coached by Syed Abdul Rahim, dropped in to visit Ajay and the director on the set. Banerjee became the national coach in 1972, and continued till 1986, after which he played a crucial role in improving the technical aspects of the game.
Talking about his visit, Amit told BT, “Banerjee sir arrived on a wheelchair. He’s old and frail now, but he has that undying spirit. He had a long chat with Ajay and he also became emotional because Ajay plays his coach Syed saab. Before heading home, he gave us a copy of his book, which is a homage to the glorious football players of the bygone generation and his coach. It’s an honour that he spent time with us, giving us so many insights into Syed saab and his equation with the team.”
I admire people like P K Banerjee who took our country to greater heights-Ajay Devgn
8:36 AM
As he brings Syed Abdul Rahim's story to celluloid with Maidaan, Ajay Devgn recounts meeting his protege, former football star P K Banerjee
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; January 11, 2020)
It's raining biopics for Ajay Devgn — even as his latest offering, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, hit screens yesterday, the actor is busy giving shape to the story of late football coach Syed Abdul Rahim in Maidaan. The Amit Ravindernath Sharma-directed venture trains the spotlight on Rahim, who coached India to victory at the Asian Games in 1951 and 1962. "Our team was known as the Brazil of Asia then," beams Devgn, admitting that he has gotten increasingly fascinated with his muse as he learnt more about him while shooting for the sports drama.
"Like Tanaji [Malusare], he is an unsung hero. The story needs to be told because when the makers approached me, I wasn't aware of him. So, it will be more interesting to [introduce him to] today's generation who genuinely love the sport," says the star, who recently wrapped up the Kolkata schedule.
The actor had the opportunity to meet former Indian football star P K Banerjee — who played under Rahim — during his Kolkata stay. "It was an emotional experience. He is frail and has difficulty talking due to his age, but he's one of the greats to have played the game. I admire people like him who took our country to greater heights."
In 2020, Devgn will also be seen in Bhuj: The Pride Of India, in which he slips into the role of Indian Air Force squadron leader Vijay Karnik. Point out how his three releases have him essaying real-life characters back-to-back, and he terms it a coincidence. "Real-life characters fascinate me. As an actor, I try to analyse what might have been going on in the person's mind [during the episode that the film focuses on]; it allows me to be creative," he explains, before adding that he will soon give biopics a rest. "I am doing Golmaal Five after these films."
Syed Abdul Rahim and PK Banerjee
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