Director Amit Ravindernath Sharma has tested positive for COVID-19. This has led to a delay in the shooting schedule of the Ajay Devgn-starrer sports film Maidaan (2021), which is helmed by Sharma.
Sharma confirmed to the Mid-Day newspaper that he had tested positive and the shooting would now resume only in the first week of April.
Several persons connected with the Hindi film industry have tested positive as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic rages through India. Maharashtra, home to the Hindi and Marathi film industries, is the worst affected in the second wave. Just yesterday news of veteran actor and filmmaker Satish Kaushik and actor Kartik Aaryan testing positive had emerged.
Maidaan had gone on the floor in January 2020. But the shoot was later halted for a long time because of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 and the subsequent countrywide lockdown.
Maidaan is based on the life of Syed Abdul Rahim, the first coach of independent India's national football team who changed the face of the game in the country in the 1950s and 1960s. Devgn is playing Rahim while Priyamani is portraying his wife.
The film is slated to be released on Dussehra this year.