Growing up in India, irrespective of your gender, cricket is an undeniable part of your life. You can choose to love it, hate it, but you cannot ignore it. With time, even if you had followed Indian Cricket half-heartedly, you tend to grow fond of it.
Watching ’83 reminded me of those fond moments of my childhood when briefly, cricket had taken over my life. I was born after the happenings of 1983. It was an event that hadn’t mattered much in my life.
’83, the movie changes that. I now realize what a glorious event it was in India’s sports history. The movie capitalizes on the emotional aspect of cricket in India. The plot relies heavily on the storyline that nobody expected India to win including the players, selectors, media, spectators, and the team management except Kapil Dev. They were the underdogs who against all odds made it happen. This emotional feel-good ride with few annoying clichés (Indian soldiers tuning in to listen to the world cup from the border while Pakistan was firing) is definitely worth the 2-hour 45-minute watch if you are an Indian.
Ranveer Singh is believable as Kapil Dev, the production quality is top-notch. The background score is a little disappointing and the movie missed a huge opportunity to replace the decade-old cricket anthem Chak De. I would give it a rating of 8 on 10.
To get a mass audience to care about an issue or a topic, producers and the crusaders tend to make a movie about it. Cricket isn’t a topic that needs more attention in India but I am still glad they made a movie about it as it now presents a point of view of a time when the Indian Cricket Team was an underdog.