Ranveer Singh’s 83 is making all the right noises. The film traces the journey of the Indian cricket team’s victory at the World Cup in 1983. And, celebrating the film are cricket legends who were part of the landmark win. Ahead of the release of the film, leading man Ranveer Singh has shared a collection of videos of several players recounting moments from the tour. Many of these memories have made it into the film, due to which Ranveer Singh has shared the clips under the title “Real To Reel.”
One such video features Sandeep Patil, who served as a batsman and medium-pace bowler on the team. In the clip, Patil talks about Kapil Dev’s penchant for speaking only in English while they were on tour. The catch? English was not Kapil Dev’s forte, so at the end of many spirited speeches, the team would be left wondering what he said.
The video is interspersed with the corresponding scene from the movie where Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev is speaking to the team. Sandeep Patil is played by his son and actor Chirag Patil in the movie.
In another video, Krishnamachari Srikkanth is seen talking about how they thought Kapil Dev had “gone mad” when he suggested that they would be able to beat the West Indies. “We used to think: Kya pagal ho gaya hai hamara captain (Our captain has gone mad),” the former batsman said. However, he added, “We won the World Cup because of one man. The man who had so much self-belief — Kapil Dev.”
This time around, the video featured bits of a scene in which actor Jiiva is delivering similar lines at a formal party.
Batting legend Mohinder Amarnath also recounted an incident during the semi-final where teammate, the late Yashpal Sharma was pulling off a series of risky shots. When asked why he was taking such risks, Yashapal Sharma said that the bowler had sledged him. The recreation of the incident in 83 features Saqib Saleem as Mohinder Amarnath and Jatin Sarna as the late Yashpal Sharma.
In a previous clip, Kirti Azad spoke about how he bowled Ian Botham with a low ball that also turned. On taking the wicket, people ran onto the ground and stuffed Kirti Azad’s pocket with 50-pound notes. He said that he was asked by Kapil Dev how the ball was both low and managed to turn. Kirti Azad confesses that he still doesn’t know how it happened. The moments mentioned by the cricketer have been recreated in the movie with Dinker Sharma in his role.
Kapil Dev also narrated the story of how Madan Lal got West Indies batsman Vivian Richards out. In a clip from the movie, Madan Lal played by Harry Sandhu says, “Ye mere peeche pada hai. Isi cheez ka fayda uthaunga, dede. Ye mujhe bowler hi nahi samajhta… mujhe ek over dede, mujhe isey dikhana hai yaar (Vivian is after me. I will take benefit of this. You just give me the ball. He doesn’t consider me a bowler. Just give me an over, so I can prove it to him).” The rest is history.
In a hilarious clip, former cricketer Balwinder Singh Sandhu talks about Kapil Dev’s inclination to speak only in English even during the final match. Balwinder Singh Sandhu said, “Kapil, as usual, was talking in English. He was giving instructions to everyone. He came to me and said, “Sardar, bahut tight. We kept a fielder there, there and there” and left. Maine pucha, “Where?” Inko laga mei mazak kar raha hu aur bole, “Sardar, tu serious hoja.” (He thought I was joking and chided me).”
83 is directed by Kabir Khan and will be released in theatres on December 24 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
