Film: 83
Rating: 2.75/5
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Pankaj Tripathi, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Jiiva, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna, Chirag Patil etc
Music: Julius Packiam, Pritam
Cinematogrpahy: Aseem Mishra
Editor: Nitin Baid
Producer: Deepika Padukone, Kabir Khan, Vishnuvardhan Induri, Sajid Nadiadwala, Reliance, Phantom and 83 Film Ltd.
Directed By: Kabir Khan
Release Date: 24 December 2021
'83', the movie with the story of 1983 World Cup has been heard since 2017. Finally, the film was completed and released today. Is this film targeted only for the cricket lovers or to all sorts of audience in general?
Let's analyze.
Story:
The Indian team arrives in London with Kapil Dev (Ranveer) as its Captain. Man Singh (Pankaj Tripathi), the manager of the team takes care of the facilities to the team members. The movie starts with league matches and eventually progresses towards the semi finals and finals.
Through out the story, Indian team keeps on facing insults from the media that it is not fit to hit the finals. But the confidence and commitment of Kapil Dev is everything that matters in every match.
The film ends with how Indian team won the finals.
Artistes' Performances:
All that we see on the screen is only Kapil Dev but not Ranveer Singh. He has stolen the hearts with his impeccable performance as Kapil Dev following the body language and diction so effectively. Deepika Padukone as Kapil's wife pleases the eyes with her looks.
The character of Krishnamachart Srikanth portrayed by Jiiva is designed to fill the humor gap. Sunil Gavaskar's character played by Tahir Raj Bhasin is totally underplayed. Though Gavaskar is historically a big name in cricket, his part was etched without any importance.
Th interesting part in the film is the real Mohinder Amarnath playing his father Lala Amarnath. He was shown enjoying the match played by his son (he himself in reality). Mohinder Amarnath's role was played by Saqib Saleem so well.
Yashpal Sharma's character portrayed by Jatin also brings a couple of laughs.
Neena Gupta as Kapil's mother and Boman Irani as Farokh Engineer are the popular faces who appear in static mode.
The background score is appropriate but didn't help much in boosting up the adrenaline of the audience. Couple of songs scored by Pritam are impressive.
Cinematography is highly commendable while the Art work deserves a huge applause. The locations of 1983 were so aptly re-created with perfection and attention. Dialogues are good and the production values are excellent.
Highlights:
Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev
Art Work
Production values
Drawbacks:
No emotional graph
Overdose of cricket matches
Predictable narration
Analysis:
An epic sports event of India has seen its light on the big screen. The film unleashed the happenings around the historic win of the first World Cup by the Indian team in the year 1983. Cricket lovers who are from the age above 45 go back to the nostalgic moments of their childhood and teenage.
It's a visual feast to see all the legends of 1983 on screen with looks nearly matching to the original faces. But content-wise, it's just an experience of watching the highlights of the 1983 World Cup in a re-creation format. Nothing much is worked on the lines of film dynamics.
Nothing was shown throughout the film than the stadium and players continuously playing their matches until the grand final match at the climax.
Everything goes in linear narration without any screenplay wonder.
The emotional moments required for the film didn't work and at times it makes us wonder if Kabir Khan was really behind making this film. Because, this is not expected from a director who is still popular with an engaging classic like Bhajarangi Bhaijaan.
Taking the triumph story of 1983 World Cup on to the big screen in indeed a challenging task.
The makers have chosen to incorporate some aspects like, how cricket can result in communal harmony and how the soldiers at the border engage themselves in listening to the cricket commentary. The idea may be good or those incidents may be close to the truth, but the way they were conceived is contrived.
The random scene of a pregnant lady is also amateurish.
On the brighter side, there are a few moments with the dialogues like- "chattees saal pehle aazaadi jeethe the... ijjat jeetnaa abhi baaki hai" (36 years ago we won freedom...we are yet to win the prestige")
When Kapil Dev asks the umpire, "What happened?", not knowing what kind of world record he broke on the ground, it speaks volumes about his attachment towards his job but not the result. Such moments are indeed good.
We have seen many films on sports that run with intact emotional rush. The films like Lagaan, Chak De, Dangal have made a benchmark to the films based on sports. Anything lesser than those films sound ordinary. '83' is one such film when compared to those classics, though it stands out as an interesting film for serious cricket lovers.
Bottom-line: Only for cricket lovers