After Diljit Dosanjh and Akshay Kumar, Raid actor Ajay Devgn will be seen in an upcoming sports biopic. According to a report in Bombay Times, the film is based on the life of Syed Abdul Rahim, who is regarded as the architect of modern Indian football. The biopic will be directed by Anil Sharma and produced by Boney Kapoor, adds the report. Syed Abdul Rahim was a former coach and manager of the Indian national football team under whose guidance India entered the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Football Tournament. A teacher by profession, Rahim was a leading figure during the golden age of Indian football. He also led the team that defeated South Korea and won the gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta.

The genre of sports biopics has found a fresh flame in Bollywood. Soorma, a biopic on former Indian hockey team captain Sandeep Singh starring Diljit Dosanjh, releases this Friday. It will be followed by Akshay Kumar’s Gold, which chronicles Independent India’s first Olympic gold medal win as a free nation. Akshay’s character in the film is inspired by hockey manager AC Chatterjee. In the past, Farhan Akhtar, Priyanka Chopra, Emraan Hashmi and Sushant Singh Rajput have played important figures in the history of Indian sports. Other upcoming sports biopics include a film on Saina Nehwal starring Shraddha Kapoor and one on Abhinav Bindra starring Harshvardhan Kapoor.