The ongoing coronavirus has impacted the entertainment industry to a big extent. With theatres being shut and productions being halted, many producers of small and medium budget movies are planning their OTT releases and their decision has angered the theatre chain owners. But survival is a necessity. While Maharashtra CM has allowed resuming the shootings of TV shows provided they maintain social distancing, Bollywood is still being wary and cautious about its decision. Maidaan: Ajay Devgn’s Sports Drama Gets Postponed to 2021?

As a producer, Boney Kapoor has three major releases lined up in Maidaan, Valimai and Vakeel Saab and unfortunately, all of his productions are currently incomplete. In his recent conversation with Deadline, when Kapoor was asked to describe the impact of COVID-19 on his bud-budget release Maidaan, the producer revealed he has incurred huge losses. Speaking about the lavish budget the film is mounted on, he said, "We built a massive outdoor set covering a 16-acre plot around Mumbai, with all the production infrastructure like make-up rooms, production offices, direction offices, toilet facilities and a separate PCR room for a 10 camera set up. We brought in world-class sports choreographers, VFX consultants, additional DOPs, and camera operators from overseas. We also hired the best football coaches and flew international level players to set. Just as the shoot was getting underway, the pandemic hit the world. We had to ensure the safety of our entire crew so had to stop all prep and send everyone home."

Besides Alia Bhatt's Gangubai Kathiawadi, Ajay Devgn's Maidaan set was also dismantled and the unit will have to erect it again whenever they decide to resume the production. "The rebuild will take at least two months, which earliest will start in September, so shooting can commence only in November. This has resulted in a massive loss for us," he further added. Maidaan: Did You Know Priyamani Was Approached for the Role in December 2019?

Ajay Devgn in Maidaan
Ajay Devgn in Maidaan (Photo Credits: Twitter)

While elaborating on his next plan of action, Boney revealed that they plan to complete work on editing, sound, music etc before they get back on the field. "Thankfully all the indoor, and some outdoor, training portions of the film were shot in Lucknow and Kolkata so are already in the can. But we will have to wait for the set to be rebuilt to film the Olympic games of Helsinki, Rome, Melbourne and Asian games of Jakarta," he said while explaining how the outdoor shooting will take time to resume.

The entertainment industry continues to struggle amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and it would take a while before things come back to normal. Maidaan is a sports biopic based on the life of Indian football coach, Syed Abdul Rahman.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2020 10:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).