Review | '83: Ranveer Singh’s Kapil’s Devils in a joyful celebration of a religion called cricket

Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in '83. (Image: Screen grab from trailer)

The film 83 hit big screens today and wham! There is already a huge debate across all social media platforms, dividing the country about how there needs to be a documentary instead of a Bollywood version. How we already have an Oscar nominated Lagaan and we didn’t need another film about cricket… Fuhgeddaboudit, I say. Forget about the naysayers and the ones on their high horses.

I went to watch this film with great trepidation - the trailer has a super jingoistic line about ‘desh ki izzat’ (honour of the country) - and emerged with a mask rendered useless with all the tears of joy I had shed, and with the knowledge that my heart had never been subject to such exercise. This organ that keeps me watching horror movies without skipping its rhythm was swelling up with pride, locating to my mouth during the matches and generally beating for a feeling of ‘deshbhakti’ (pride for one’s nation), a feeling that has been tainted and abused over the last few years. I laughed at the locker room conversations and the camaraderie, I loved the moments of joy as well as despair, and I stopped counting how many times I felt goosebumps rise.

Some of us were too young to understand the significance of the win when India won the world cup and brought it back home. The newspaper headlines screamed Kapil’s Devils ‘Snatch the World Cup’, and ‘Indians Set Lord’s On Fire’, but we did not know how these young men will change the way we as Indians feel about cricket. Yes, our older brothers considered Sunny Days as cricket bible, magazines like Sportstar were very popular and you were used to hearing breathless cricket commentary on radios. But winning the World Cup? It was always an impossible dream.

So the young Haryana Hurricane is named captain of a team that has three senior players, and he’s like, ‘How can I say anything to them?’ Ranveer Singh is so vulnerable here when he plays Kapil Dev, when he says that to their Hyderabadi team manager PR Man Singh (Pankaj Tripathi plays the character with his familiar wink and nod style), that you sit up and notice. In fact, Man Singh had written to Wisden’s editor David Frith that he would have to eat his words that wrote off the maverick, seemingly ragtag Indian World Cup Team. Man Singh’s home in Secunderabad is a cricket museum (called the Pavilion, it has more cricket memorabilia than you can ever imagine!).

Kabir Khan won me over with a clever introduction of the team: when their passports are stamped upon arrival. Wonderful to see original passport photos and see the actors who are playing the cricket stars. You might think it’s gimmicky, but it was a great way to familiarise us with the actors. The colour palette that is used in the film is not sepia but a very warm yellow. It adds to the warmth you already feel for these young lads who look like nobodies when standing in a line with greats led by Clive Lloyd for West Indies, Kim Hughes for Australia, Bob Willis for England and others. Just one look at the team pages in the cricket almanac and you realise the giants these Indian minnows were going to face.

Not just outsiders, we Indians did not believe that ours was a team that could do anything. In fact, the media skipped our match against Zimbabwe (Tunbridge Wells on June 18, 1983) because they had better things to do, like cover England playing Australia. But after being five wickets down for just 17 runs, Kapil Dev played a Captain’s knock and scored 175 runs. I was amazed to see that come alive on the big screen and was happy to cheer along with the cricket fever that had overcome the audience. This is a movie you have to watch with friends and even though you’re social distancing, you will feel your screams of joy tear your masks!

The team spirit is superbly captured, and there’s no malice even though Sunil Gavaskar had lost his captaincy to a younger Kapil Dev. Tahir Raj Bhasin plays Sunil Gavaskar with gravity required for the role. I especially loved Jatin Sharma’s portrayal of Yashpal Sharma, and Roger Binny played by Nishant Dahiya. Of course, Jimmy Amarnath plays his own dad in the movie but it was a whistle podu moment to see him watch Saquib Saleem play young Mohinder ‘Jimmy’ Amarnath on the field, red handkerchief tucked into his back pocket for luck.

And yes, Ranveer Singh! How can you not praise his versatility? Here, he’s not the Instagram brash brat or dressed as if he’s going to the MET gala. He’s the quiet but determined young captain, who is unable to express himself in English. His halting, ‘We here to win.’ elicits laughs among the journalists at the world cup, but one look into his eyes and you know that he meant it. Ranveer Singh makes Kapil’s shots look natural, too. The way he handles his teammates, with empathy and humour, is just wonderful.

If you are like me, you might have found some of the cricket scenes in the critically acclaimed Lagaan tiresome. But there is not a single moment in '83 that is tiresome. In fact the dialogue about ‘India won freedom years ago, but earned respect now’ was stuck in my craw when I saw the trailer. But in the context of the film, you will find yourself agreeing with Man Singh. There’s so much to love about the film and you will see nuances of character and loads of humor as well.

Most memorable scene? The juxtaposition of a song from Ek Duje Ke Liye and Kapil’s speech in the bus. Well done, Kabir Khan! Superbly played, Ranveer Singh and company!