83 is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film written and directed by Kabir Khan and produced by Deepika Padukone, Kabir Khan, Vishnu Vardhan Induri and Sajid Nadiadwala. Based on the India national cricket team led by Kapil Dev, which won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, and jointly written by Khan, along with Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, Vasan Bala and Sumit Arora, it features an ensemble cast including Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Pankaj Tripathi, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Jiiva, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna, Chirag Patil, Dinker Sharma, Nishant Dahiya, Harrdy Sandhu, Sahil Khattar, Ammy Virk, Adinath Kothare, Dhairya Karwa and R. Badree.
Vishnu Vardhan Induri who first owned the rights for the film and Madhu Mantena, the co-producer in Phantom Films, formally met the Indian squad of 1983 during mid-July 2016, and its frontman Kapil Dev, where they signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) to make the official biopic. In September 2017, Reliance Entertainment co-financed the project and officially announced the biopic with members of the winning team, with Singh and Khan brought on board. Following an extensive casting and pre-production process, the film began principal photography on 5 June 2019, where it was majorly shot in and around England for three months and a brief schedule took place in India, before filming being wrapped up on 7 October.
Originally scheduled for a theatrical release in April 2020, the film was delayed several times due to the casting and pre-production works that delayed filming, and also due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, resulting in the film being delayed until December 2021. It premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival on 15 December and released worldwide on 24 December 2021 (Christmas Eve) in conventional 2D and 3D formats, distributed by PVR Pictures in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages, apart from the original version. The film received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, praising the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. However, the film was unsuccessful at the Indian box office, although it became the highest grossing Hindi film of 2021 overseas.
At the 67th Filmfare Awards, 83 received 14 nominations, including Best Director (Khan), Best Supporting Actor (Tripathi) and Best Male Playback Singer (Arijit Singh for "Lehra Do"), and won two awards – Best Actor (Ranveer Singh) and Best Lyricist (Munir for "Lehra Do").
Plot In 1983, the Board of Control for Cricket in India receives an official invitation for the Indian national cricket team to participate in the Prudential Cricket World Cup in England. Upon arriving in London, the under-rated Indian team witnesses the media and paparazzi swarming the West Indies squad. Despite substandard performance in their warm-up matches and skepticism from the international press, Indian captain Kapil Dev confidently declares that victory is their goal. At a reception hosted at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II wishes the participating teams good luck, and Dev rallies his teammates in his developing English.
Placed in Group B alongside teams from Australia, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe, India begins their campaign on a surprisingly high note. They unexpectedly win against two-time champions West Indies at Old Trafford, driven by Yashpal Sharma's Player of the Match performance of 89 runs. India next defeats Zimbabwe at Grace Road, thanks to a half-century from Sandeep Patil and crucial bowling from Madan Lal. However, the team suffers a heavy loss to Australia when key batsman Sunil Gavaskar is sidelined with a leg injury.
The team faces another defeat in their rematch against the West Indies, as Viv Richards scores an impressive 119 runs, while Malcolm Marshall's hostile bouncer attack injures Dilip Vengsarkar's chin, requiring seven stitches and sidelining him for the rest of the tournament. Despite Mohinder "Jimmy" Amarnath's valiant 80 runs, India loses by 66 runs. Initially discouraged, the players are reinspired after spotting a young boy waving the Indian national flag while celebrating West Indies fans temporarily block their team bus.
On June 18, India faces Zimbabwe at Nevill Ground in a high-stakes sudden-death match. With Gavaskar returning to the side and the players' wives in attendance, India's innings opens disastrously, collapsing to 9 runs for 4 wickets. After lunch, Dev uses the Mongoose bat and hits boundaries. Mid-innings, Dev is momentarily confused by a standing ovation for a single run, only for the umpire to inform him that he has broken the world record for the highest individual ODI score, finishing 175, the first-ever ODI century scored by an Indian. India wins by 31 runs, sustaining their campaign. At a subsequent High Commissioner's party, Krishnamachari Srikkanth jests that while everyone initially thought Kapil was crazy for aiming to defeat the West Indies, the team will now aim towards lifting the World Cup trophy.
India advances to the semi-finals by defeating Australia by 118 runs at Chelmsford, with Roger Binny named Player of the Match. Meanwhile, in India, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi orders nationwide expansion of television broadcasting infrastructure so citizens can watch the semi-finals against hosts England. In the match, England is bowled out for 213, aided by Kirti Azad's crucial wicket of Ian Botham and resilient bowling from Balwinder Sandhu, who overcomes a breakup from his fiancée. During the run chase, Amarnath, Yashpal, Patil, and Dev carry the team forward, with Patil striking a four to seal their place in the final. Amarnath is awarded Player of the Match.
On June 25, India faces the West Indies in the final at Lord's. Gavaskar is dismissed for 2 and Srikkanth makes 38, leaving India all out for a modest 183, the lowest total defended in a World Cup final. During the break, a determined Dev rallies his team to defend every run.
In the second innings, Sandhu provides an early breakthrough by bowling Gordon Greenidge. Viv Richards launches a fierce assault, hitting rapid boundaries off Madan Lal. However, Madan Lal convinces Dev to give him another over; consequently, Richards hits a high mistimed shot that Dev catches after a sensational backward running effort. The West Indies batting order rapidly collapses. With the West Indies nine wickets down, Amarnath bowls to tailender Michael Holding, trapping him LBW. Following a loud appeal, the umpire raises his finger, declaring India's victory by 43 runs.
Ecstatic fans immediately swarm the field as the team rushes back to the dressing room. In Mumbai, a young Sachin Tendulkar watches the televised victory, inspired to one day play cricket for India. Amarnath is named Player of the Match for his all-round performance, and Dev steps onto the Lord's balcony to hoist the World Cup trophy.
Cast
Ranveer Singh as Kapil "Kuku" Dev a.k.a. "Kaps": The captain of the Indian Cricket Team at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Dev also appears himself briefly in a scene as an Indian spectator catching a ball Deepika Padukone as Romi Bhatia Dev, Kapil's wife Pankaj Tripathi as P. R. Man Singh: Manager of the Indian Cricket Team at the 1983 World Cup Tahir Raj Bhasin as Sunil "Sunny" Gavaskar a.k.a. "Little Master" Jiiva as Krishnamachari Srikkanth aka "Cheeka" Saqib Saleem as Mohinder "Jimmy" Amarnath aka "Jim Pa" Jatin Sarna as Yashpal "Yash" Sharma Chirag Patil as Sandeep "Sandy" Patil aka "Patla" Dinker Sharma as Kirti Azad Nishant Dahiya as Roger Binny Harrdy Sandhu as Madan Lal aka "Madi Pa" Sahil Khattar as Syed Kirmani a.k.a. "Kiri" Ammy Virk as Balwinder "Ballu" Singh Sandhu Adinath Kothare as Dilip Vengsarkar a.k.a. "Colonel" Dhairya Karwa as Ravi Shastri R Badree as Sunil Valson alias "Vally" Neena Gupta as Rajkumari Nikhanj, Kapil's mother Boman Irani as Farokh Engineer Rajeev Gupta as Journalist Mishra Aditi Arya as Inderjit Bhardwaj, Jimmy's wife Samreen Kaur as Simran Singh, Ballu's fiancée Satish Alekar as S. K. Wankhede Wamiqa Gabbi as Annu Lal, Madan's wife Parvati Nair as Marshneil Gavaskar, Sunil's wife Mohinder Amarnath as Lala Amarnath, Jimmy's father Avantika Akerkar as Indira Gandhi Rukhsar Rehman as Salma Sultan Ashok Banthia as Rajiv Khanna Chandramouli Kalyanachakravarthy as Mr. Natarajan Rajie Vijay Sarathy as Mrs. Natarajan Swetha Vinod as Kalyani Natarajan Anjum Batra as Kulwant Singh Toor Akshay Kumar Jinagal as Vijay Quin Huntley as Imran Khan Happy Sharma as Gill Jacques Taylor as Viv Richards Carl Greenidge as Gordon Greenidge Tagenarine Chanderpaul as Larry Gomes Jason Clive Lloyd as Joel Garner a.k.a. "Big Bird" Baharul Islam as the Major of Indian Army Orson Nurse as Clive Lloyd Foozi Artan as Wayne Daniel Sebastian Burchell as Dave Richardson Mali Marshall as Malcolm Marshall Sheryl Bennett as Vidya Srikkanth, Chika's wife Neil Durand as Kevin Curran Duncan Fletcher the spectator with a beer glass in his hand when Kapil Dev takes a running catch of Amarnath's bowling in India vs Zimbabwe match
Production
Origin A film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup and India's win at the tournament was first ideated by Vishnu Vardhan Induri the founder and managing director of Celebrity Cricket League in 2014 and he approached Kapil Dev with the Idea initially. In mid-July 2016, Phantom Studios — a joint production company owned by Madhu Mantena, featuring the collaborations of directors Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl and Vikramaditya Motwane also expressed their interest in co-producing the film, citing their passion for cricket. 83 is touted to be the first venture of Vishnu Vardhan Induri's newly formed production house, Vibri Media. The squad members of the 1983 team, along with former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev met the producers at a suburban hotel in Mumbai, discussing about the film. In the process, the two production companies had signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the 1983 team to make an official biopic, where according to the norms, the producers will get to use the actual names of the players as well as use real incidents from their lives. In an official statement regarding the biopic, Dev stated that "the journey of the 1983 team is a story of inspiration which proves that one can achieve anything if they aim for it and work for it no matter what the world thinks".
Development Despite the official announcement, the makers were yet to finalise the cast and crew members and the director of the project. Rumours surfaced that Kabir Khan was going to direct the project with either Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor or Sushant Singh Rajput playing the role of Kapil Dev. When Khan was asked about his role in the biopic, he stated that "he was fascinated on the story of India's journey at the 1983 Cricket World Cup" but remained silent on the claims of directing the film. Akshay Kumar was also rumoured to act in the film, which was later declined. On 25 September 2017, Phantom Films announced that Singh would play the role of Kapil Dev, and Kabir Khan too confirmed that he will direct the film.
A launch event was hosted at JW Marriott Mumbai on 27 September 2017 by Reliance Entertainment and Vibri Media to announce the biopic officially under the title 83. Singh and the entire former team that won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 were present at the event. Speaking at the event, Khan said that the makers will begin pre-production and location scouting by late-November 2017, and has planned to shoot the film in real locations, in order to create authenticity and also "to give youngsters to celebrate the milestone in the history of Indian Cricket which happened when many were not even born".