Amit Sharma:“The Maidaan Set Is Damaged, Our Morale Isn’t”

 The torrential rains in Mumbai have  caused havoc to  property and  humankind. The large  football-stadium set of  director Amit Sharma’s Maidaan where  he was scheduled  to shoot India playing against  various international teams, has been  damaged by the rains.

 How  serious is  the damage ?

“It is  pretty  bad. We’re all  under shock. But  luckily I’ve a very  supportive producer. Boney Kapoor Sir was my first producer. He  was  as  supportive  and generous  when  I made my first  film Tevar. We are now  working on  minimizing the damage and  restoring the set  as soon  as possible,” says  Amit.

As for returning to shooting, “It  would depend on when  the  lockdown is  over.Also  the  monsoons are around the corner.We don’t want  the set to be washed  away again. So it is   a tricky situation.When  the set was damaged  I was devastated.  How much more  is  God going to   test our endurance? But then I  quickly came to terms with  it. Boney Sir and Ajay Sir(Devgan) have been  pillars of strength. They have  assured me that   Maidaan will continue to  be shot  the   way we had planned.”

As  for the release date, “We are  not even thinking about that right now. Or entire focus is  on completing the  film without compromises. Covid  or hurricane , we are determined to make  the film we had  set out to make  before these setbacks   hit us.”

 Shooting with real footballers  is  not  a problem.  Finding them was. “I had  to  look for  football players who could act, and not actors who would pretend  to play football. Not even actors who couple play reasonably well. It had to be really good footballers who could act.I think  I’ve  got what I wanted.”

Amit is  all praise for  Ajay Devgan, “The level of dedication Ajay Sir has shown has to be seen to be believed. He  has not only sharpened his skills as a footballer, he  made sure he was all there for the project from the word  go. Maidaan  couldn’t have been made without Ajay sir.I think he deserves another National award.”

Devgan  has earlier won the National award for best actor in Zakham and   The Legend Of Bhagat Singh.

As  for  the leading lady Priyamani has she been sidelined  in Maidaan since it seems  to be  a  boy’s film?Amit responds in the negative.  “Not at all. There is  enough space for  Priyamani  and she  has done  a wonderful  job.”