June 25, 1983 will always be etched as the day of revolution in Indian sports history as it was on this day that India achieved its first international glory in cricket, reinventing the sport in the subcontinent. Sadly, I wasn’t born yet so I couldn’t experience that day as it happened, but the announcement of ’83 had me excited as I was to get to relive a momentous occasion for all Indians. But bringing such historic moment alive on screen for this generation was never an easy task, and if someone could pull this off, it had to be a visionary like Kabir Khan and he does that brilliantly with his dream team, led by Ranveer Singh. Before going further, let’s take a look at the trailer of ’83.
Check out the trailer here:
The trailer stars with the Indian cricket team on the verge of exiting the 1983 World Cup, and being actually seen as a worthless team in the tournament, that no one believes in. In the first few seconds, you just listen to Kapil Dev’s voice from the bathroom and you wonder if it’s the real cricketer speaking or Ranveer, and as he emerges from the bathroom, you realise the extent to which the actor has imbibed the character of the legendary cricketer and just feel impressed. Some phrases of his like ‘Shut Up’ and the whole press conference scene feels like it’s actually Kapil sitting there and talking.
The trailer is also special because you get to see the real-life couple of Ranveer and Deepika Padukone together on screen for the first time after their marriage three years ago, and their chemistry is as stunning as it always was. The trailer then follows the journey of the Indian team in the tournament overcoming all the obstacles. I am glad that they haven’t shown the final trophy-lifting moment in the trailer as I want to experience it for the first time on the big screen only.
Apart from Ranveer and Deepika, ’83 also features Pankaj Tripathi, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Jiiva, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna, Chirag Patil, Dinker Sharma, Nishant Dahiya, Harrdy Sandhu, Sahil Khattar, Ammy Virk, Addinath Kothare, Dhairya Karwa, R Badree and Boman Irani. Directed by Kabir, it is produced by Deepika , Kabir , Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Sajid Nadiadwala, Phantom Films, Reliance Entertainment & 83 Film Ltd and will release theatrically on December 24, 2021.
Being a cricket and cinema buff, ’83 is the perfect combination for me and I just automatically have huge expectations from it. But what amused me the most in the trailer is the level to which Ranveer has dedicated himself to be as close to real life Kapil Dev as he could. That effort is something I have come to associate with the actor and it reflects in this role more so. It’s nice to see the purity and essence of that glory being kept alive and not being overtly modified just to get more eyeballs. ’83 is going to be special, I am sure of it.