Badhai Ho Director Amit Sharma On The Shooting Of Maidaan: ‘Had To Audition Authentic Footballers Who Could Act, Didn’t Want Actors To Fake It’ - EXCLUSIVE

Director Amit Sharma talks about the setbacks faced while shooting for the upcoming film Maidaan, and the audition process for footballers in the film

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Badhai Ho Director Amit Sharma On The Shooting Of Maidaan: ‘Had To Audition Authentic Footballers Who Could Act, Didn’t Want Actors To Fake It’ - EXCLUSIVE
The Badhai Ho  director Amit Sharma is shooting  in his words, like  a mad man. “We had completed around  fifty  days shooting before the lockdown, Now we have  50-55 days  more of shooting to complete  and we’ve already locked in  on 15 October, 2021.” The  huge  set,  built  at a cost  of approximately 9 crores,  depicting a cricket field had  to be dismantled due to the  disruption  of  the  shooting and  built again.

Says Amit, “It was  a big blow . But there was  no other option. The set had to be rebuilt and we  are now shooting on it with utmost speed.  Luckily I’ve a  producer Boney Kapoor who knows what  is required. Though we faced a  massive setback he  never allowed us  to feel the pinch. In fact I  started my career as director with Boney Sir’s  Tevar. It is  really  imperative to have a producer who understands  cinema  for a director to make  the  film he wants to.And Boney Sir has been a producer from the age  of 23.”

For Amit Sharma , Maidaan  is  a swerve into the  into the realm of  the epic. “Tevar and Badhai Ho were relatively smaller  films. Maidaan is an outdoor film. We  have to  shoot  a majority   of  the  film outdoors. We  had to audition and select authentic footballers  who  could  act. This wasn’t easy. And we  didn’t want actors to fake it because anyone who knows football can catch out  someone  faking  it as soon as he runs on the field. So we had to get  footballers  who could act.”

Maidaan is Sharma’s bio-pic on the legendary football coach  Syed Abdul Rahim. Amit Sharma  is all praise  for  Ajay Devgn who  plays the  pivotal role. “Ajay Sir is a dream  actor. His  dedication and enthusiasm have  gone a long way into making Maidaan  the  film that its is shaping into. He  is  just the right fit to play Syed Abdul Rahim , both age-wise and  in personality.”

Why isn’t Amit Sharma doing the sequel to Badhai Ho called Badhai Do? “Because Badhai Do has nothing to do with Badhai Ho. They are completely different films. In any case, I’d never repeat  myself as a filmmaker.”



Image source: Instagram/iamitrsharma