India won Independence in 1947 but it took a few decades more before it commanded respect & one of the main events that made it possible was our triumph at the 1983 World Cup. As I was born in the 1980s, I had missed out on that unique experience but it was undoubtedly much more impactful than when we were crowned Champions in 2011 especially since no one expected it including our own cricket board. Being a sports buff & a hard core cricket lover, I was thrilled that this historical event was recreated in Kabir Khan's "83" & looked forward to its release which hit the screens on Xmas eve. So was it able to rekindle the excitement???
Kabir Khan is no stranger to movies mounted on a lavish canvas after all he has helmed projects like "Ek Tha Tiger" & "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" which has been blockbusters. But calling the shots for a project that talks about one of the greatest sporting achievement of our nation is no mean task & he has done a fantastic job without a shadow of doubt. Along with Sanjay Singh & Vasan Bala, he has recreated the whole event in an engaging & thrilling manner despite the fact that we are aware of pretty much all the details. The humiliation, scepticism, self belief, motivation, happiness & proudness that the team went through at various stages of the tournament was captured in an authentic manner.
One inevitable aspect of such flicks are an overdosage of patriotic dialogues, chest thumping & the opposition shown as heartless individuals who just have disdain for the rest. Thankfully, Kabir & Sumit Arora does not overstep the line and the Invincible Windies are shown as brilliant players with a mention that even they didnt get anything on a platter. Aseem Mishra's visuals were impressive and the idea to intersperse with the real videos / pics did have a positive effect. Even with a running time of 161 minutes, it doesn't test our patience & the credit for that goes to Nitin Baid for seamlessly blending the drama on & off the field with finesse. Pritam's music was fine while Julius Packiam's was excellent as it elevated the mood in many sequences.
On the performance front, Ranveer Singh did not quite look like Kapil even with the makeup but the way he imbibed the body language & expressions was brilliant. This will certainly rate as one of his finest work to date. There were other praise worth performances such as Jiiva (as Srikanth), Pankaj Tripathi (as PR Man Singh), Saqib Saleem (as Mohinder Amarnath), Jatin Sarna (as Yashpal Sharma), Tahir Raj (as Gavaskar), Nishant Dahiya (as Roger Binny) etc.
Verdict: It's a difficult task to give importance to each & ever member, but Kabir managed to do it barring a few. Personally, I would have loved to see a bit more focus on Sunil Valson's character as he is the only one in that squad who didn't get to play a game, so it would have been great to see how he motivated himself (ofcourse being able to represent the nation needs no extra motivation, but still) & how the team helped him. On the whole, it was a rewarding experience as it makes us feel all the emotions that we associate with a thrilling movie where the protagonists start off as underdogs. In short, dont miss it!!!
Rating: 3.75/5
Regards...Ben
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