Kabir Khan’s 83, starring Ranveer Singh in the lead role, has been garnering a whole lot of praise from movies critics and cine-lovers ever since it opened in theatres on December 24. The film is based on the Indian cricket team’s historic win against West Indies at Lord’s in 1983. 83 was rescheduled several times because of coronavirus lockdowns before it had its big release in December last year. Now, director Kabir Khan has revealed in an interview with mid-day that the film might stream on an OTT platform due to the sudden rise of COVID-19 cases in the country. Cinema halls have been shut down in several states to curb the rise in covid cases.
Talking to the tabloid, Kabir Khan said: “This film was ready with us 18 months ago. We wanted people to see it on the big screen because that is how it was designed. But such are the times that we live in. We tried hard to acquire a safe spot for the film, but the day of its release, there was a spike in cases. By day four, Delhi theatres had shut down.”
On December 28, the Delhi government ordered to shut down the theatres and multiplexes to prevent the rise in COVID-19 cases after the capital started recording major spikes in the coronavirus cases.
Speaking about the decision of taking their film to an OTT platform, Kabir Khan said: “We don’t know if we will have to shut down tomorrow, or will be afforded another five to six days. If further restrictions are imposed, we will release the film on the web, soon. But I am keen [that] people take precaution and go to the theatres to watch it.”
In 83, Ranveer Singh features as the former Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev. Under his captaincy, Indian won the World Cup in 1983. The roles of Kapil’s Devils have been portrayed by these actors respectively – Sunil Gavaskar (Tahir Raj Bhasin), Mohinder Amarnath (Saqib SaleemKrishnamachari Srikkanth (Jiiva), late cricketer Yashpal Sharma (Jatin Sarna), Madan Lal (Harrdy Sandhu), Syed Kirmani (Sahil Khatter), Sandip Patil (Chirag Patil), Kirti Azad (Dinker Sharma), Roger Binny (Nishant Dahiya), Balvinder Singh Sandhu (Ammy Virk), Dilip Vengsarkar (Addinath M Kothare), Ravi Shashtri (Dhairya Karwa) and Sunil Valson (R Badree).
The performances of the whole cast of 83, headlined by Ranveer Singh, have been lauded by members of the film fraternity and film critics. However, the film didn’t as well as it was expected of it. Sharing how Kapil Dev reacted to 83’s box office performance, Kabir Khan told mid-day: “He (Kapil Dev) said, ‘When we won the World Cup in 1983, we didn’t get money. We got respect. You made this film [to get] respect, and you are getting that. Concentrate on that.’ Only he could have explained this with such positivity.”
83 also features actress Deepika Padukone as Kapil Dev’s wife Romi Dev.
