Ajay Devgn’s ‘Maidaan’ collects a decent Rs 7 crore, despite the big Eid clash with Akshay Kumar-Tiger Shroff starrer ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'

Ajay Devgn-starrer sports biopic 'Maidaan' collects a decent Rs 7 crore at the box office.

Ajay Devgn returned to the big screens with the impressive sports biopic 'Maidaan', and the movie managed to collect a decent Rs 7 crore.

The film, which also has Gajraj Rao and Priyamani in important roles, has been directed by Amit Sharma. ‘Maidaan’ is a sports drama based on the life of football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, who was fondly called Rahim Bhai.

‘Maidaan’, which was earlier scheduled to release on April 10, was released on Eid (April 11). The movie clashed with Akshay Kumar Tiger Shroff’s action movie 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' directed by Ali Abbas Zafar.

In the advance bookings, ‘Maidaan’ was struggling behind ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ but the movie got off to a decent start on the opening day and collected Rs 7 crore. The movie is likely to pick up pace over the weekend, plus there is no other big release in the entire month of April.

‘Maidaan’ also had paid previews on Wednesday, and it collected approx. Rs 2.6 crore net in India then, and on the opening day, it earned Rs 4.50 crore net at the box office. So, ‘Maidaan’ managed to earn Rs 7.10 crore in total, and the film is also receiving positive word of mouth, which is likely to help the movie in the coming days.

Ajay Devgn played the role of Indian football coach Syed Abdul Rahim in the film, set between 1952 and 1962. His tenure as a football coach was known as the Golden Era of Indian football.

The ‘Family Man’ actress Priyamani plays the role of Ajay Devgn’s wife in the movie.

Maidaan had hit a slight roadblock on Thursday after a writer claimed that the movie’s story was originally written by him. The Mysore Sessions Court had ordered a stay on the film’s release in Karnataka. But later in the day, Karnataka High Court cleared the movie of plagiarism charges and allowed the film’s release.