Maidaan

“It takes a village to raise a child. And it takes a country to create a cracking team capable of beating the best in the world… It would have been a bonus if we had been given some background on these men, who came from all parts of the country. A few get a musical collage as a back-story, but given that the team was built painstakingly, brick by brick, by Rahim Sa’ab, we could have done with more detailing of these bricks in the wall.”

Rating: 2.5 stars | Full review

“Can a film—or any work of art—really be understood if you don’t acknowledge the blood, sweat, and tears behind it? This line of thought ties into the persecution complex that bookmarks most national achievements: Victory is useless if it isn’t attached to victimhood. This story, too, is so focused on selling the handicap that it fails to forge its own merit. It’s why most of the genre tropes ring hollow.”

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“Sacrifices depth at altar of disproportionate grandstanding.”

Rating: 2 stars | Full review

“Maidaan pays heartfelt homage to Rahim, but has difficulty locating his brilliance within an overarching theme or an identifiable core… Needed a more rounded portrait, one that would include his background, his understanding of the beautiful game, and the personal belief system with which he infected the players. Maidaan gives some sense of Rahim’s doggedness, but the man himself remains only partly formed on the football field and elusive beyond it.”

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