Edited By: Bohni Bandyopadhyay
Last Updated: February 16, 2023, 21:50 IST
Ajay Devgn paid tribute to legendary footballer Tulsidas Balaram who passed away on Thursday.
Ajay Devgn plays Indian football team coach Syed Abdul Rahim in Maidaan. Tulsidas Balaram was one of the players in the team that won the Asian games in 1962.
Ajay Devgn’s film Maidaan has been in the making for quite some time. The film is based on football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, under whose leadership, Indian football team won the Asian games in 1951 and 1962. The Indian football team had players like Chunni Goswami, PK Banerjee, Balaram, Franco and Arun Ghosh. One of those football legends, Tulsidas Balaram, passed away on Thursday.
The Asian Games gold-medal-winning footballer and Olympian died in Kolkata on Thursday after a prolonged illness, sources close to his family said. Balaram was 87 and a widower living in a flat on the banks of Hooghly river in Uttarpara.
On hearing of his death, Ajay Devgn, on behalf of team Maidaan, took to Twitter to pay tribute. “RIP Balaram Sir. Team Maidaan and I pay homage to your memory. Om Shanti,” he posted, alongwith a photo of the footballer.
Balaram belonged to the golden generation of Indian football in the 1950s and 60s when he paired with legends such as Chuni Goswami and PK Banerjee, and they came to be known as ‘the holy trinity’.
Ajay Devgn is playing the role of Syed Abdul Rahim to tell the story of this unsung hero who was responsible for taking Indian football to new heights and winning accolades for the country.
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.”
The release date of the film, that was announced in 2018, has been deferred multiple times. The Amit Sharma directed sports drama is now expected to release on June 23, 2023.
