I was offered Maidaan in December, I’ll shoot from January end: Priyamani

The year 2020 looks packed for Priyamani. The actress, who’s shooting for a handful of films, including the Telugu remake of Asuran with Venkatesh, has just signed on a new film — Maidaan with Ajay Devgn. Interestingly, Priyamani replaces Keerthy Suresh in the Amit Ravindernath Sharma (of Badhaai Ho fame) directorial, which would have marked her Bollywood debut.
Priyamani, who was shooting in a forest in Kerala, tells us, “Boney Kapoor sir approached me for the film; I got this offer in December.I met director Amit at Boneyji’s office. He told me the gist of the story and gave me a brief about my role. The way Amit narrated the character drew me in and I just couldn’t say no. I’ll start shooting for my portions by January end.”
Maidaan will trace the golden years of Indian football and has Ajay Devgn playing football coach Syed Abdul Rahim. The actress will be playing Ajay’s wife in the film. “It feels so good to play a real-life character on the big screen. I’m looking forward to working with Ajay Devgn sir and Amit, and of course under Boney sir’s production,” she says.
Interestingly, Priyamani is said to be playing Sasikala in Vijay’s Thalaivi, a biopic of actress and former CM of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa. Ask her if she had to work the shoot schedule of her other films to accommodate this one and she says, “I can’t comment on Thalaivi now, but fortunately, my husband and my manager both worked out the dates to ensure a smooth shoot for the entire crew of Maidaan and Asuran remake so that dates don’t clash.”
Meanwhile
A source in the know tells us that Keerthy shot for a day for the sports drama in October before both she and the makers mutually decided to part ways. The source says, “Keerthy was to play Ajay’s wife and a mother. But she had lost a lot of weight from the time she had committed to the film to when she shot in October, and hence, didn’t look the part. So, she opted out of the film. However, there’s no bad blood and the production house is hoping to collaborate with her soon for another project.”
We also hear that date clash was another factor that prompted Keerthy’s decision. “The film didn’t go on floors as planned because casting took a while; the makers wanted every character to look authentic. And now, Keerthy’s dates were clashing with those that she had allotted for her other films in the south, including Rajinikanth’s movie with Siva, and she felt it would be in the best interest of both her and the makers of Maidaan that she opt out,” another source tells us.