Archives for December 2021

83 review – Near-flawless recreation of India’s cricketing triumph

December 25, 2021 by Keyur Seta 4 Comments

The last time cinema halls turned into cricket stadiums was in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001). The scenes are repeated 20 years later through Kabir Khan’s 83, a film based on India’s cricket World Cup victory in 1983.

As Lagaan was fictional, the makers were able to script the match as per their wishes; it finally went down to the last ball. In other words, the audience didn’t know how the match would play out. But 83 is based on a real cricket tournament and India’s numerous cricket fans know the team’s cricketing journey in the series by-heart, even if they were born after 1983. This is more for those who actually witnessed that World Cup victory and the celebrations that followed.

But despite knowing the whole story before the start of the film, 83 makes us go through various states of minds and emotions as if we don’t know the story. Hence, one feels sad for the team when its losing and erupt with joy when they defeat their opponents.

This is nothing but the triumph of Khan’s direction and the writers – Khan himself along with Vasan Bala, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Sumit Arora.

There is a danger in a film featuring a series of matches to become repetitive. This is also taken care of smartly in 83. Each match brings about different situations. Plus, they have also used Pritam’s music smartly in between to ensure that you are glued to your seats.

83 is also high in humour. In fact, the film is full of funny moments. The team members of 83 have narrated several such incidents over the years. It’s good to see them recreated here, especially the one where Kapil gets shocked to see a woman in Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s room.

Quality of cricket

I have seen the highlights of India’s 1983 World Cup semi-final and final numerous times. While watching the quality of cricket in 83, I didn’t feel I was watching a movie. The recreation of the matches is done that well, including the fall of some wickets that are too hard to recreate. For example, Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s dismissal of Gordon Greenidge in the final and Jeff Dujon hitting the ground in dismay after being dismissed in the same match.

The camera angles, colour grading and the font of the scores also match exactly to the real matches. The recreated shots in the film are intercut by visuals of the real matches and it matches [pun intended]. Such is the confidence of the makers. Cinematographer Aseem Mishra, Khan’s long-time associate, also deserves major credit for achieving this.

Creative liberties

At the end of the day, 83 is a feature film. So it’s obvious that the makers have taken creative liberties. But it’s done here at a lower level as compared to other sports films from Hindi cinema.

Patriotism

83 is one of the rare Hindi films of today’s era, as far as mainstream Hindi cinema is concerned, that naturally brings about a feeling of patriotism. It never goes over-the-top and remains subtle despite it being based on cricket. The interval point deserves special mention.

Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev during the recreation of India’s match against Zimbabwe where he scored 175*

The unrecorded match against Zimbabwe

A major attraction of 83 is the recreation of India’s second match against Zimbabwe played at the Turnbridge Wells because it was never telecast or recorded as the broadcasters BBC went on strike. 83 becomes a memorable recreation of the match and Kapil Dev’s unbeaten and record-breaking knock of 175 not out.

Apart from the match, what went around in the dressing room and outside also adds to the excitement.

The all-important final

The final of the 1983 World Cup final wasn’t a close nail-biting match that went down to the wire. But the makers have made it look that way and that too without taking any major creative liberties. The film achieves this through smart and intelligent story-telling, especially at the very end [won’t say further to avoid spoilers]. The makers are also blessed with few real incidents related to the match that are naturally dramatic.

Performances

Performances play a major role in 83 scoring high marks. Ranveer Singh not only brings Kapil Dev’s mannerisms alive but also gets his extremely difficult bowling action and batting style near-perfect. He makes an impact during emotional parts as well. This will go down as one of his best performances. Pankaj Tripathi plays the team manager PR Man Singh but gets as much importance as any main player. He completely justifies his casting and shines on various occasions.

From all the players, Jiiva, who plays Krishnamachari Srikkanth, gets the maximum scope and he comes up with a brilliant act. He performs the best during the monologue. Tahir Raj Bhasin, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna and Ammy Virk get the characters of Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma and Balwinder Singh Sandhu right.

The film also has believable performances from a list of actors – Hardy Sandhu (Madan Lal), Chirag Patil, (father Sandeep Patil), Dhairya Karwa, (Ravi Shastri), Addinath Kothare, (Dilip Vengsarkar), Sahil Khattar (Syed Kirmani), Dinkar Sharma (Kirti Azad) and Nishant Dahiya (Roger Binny). Deepika Padukone is appealing as Romi Dev.

Much more than a mere cricket film

83 isn’t just about India winning its first world cup against various odds. It shows the game’s potential to unite Indians even when hatred is spread by the vested interests [I won’t say much to avoid spoilers].

Negative points:

The 1983 WC has an interesting story about the 12^th man Sunil Valson who couldn’t play a single match. He does come close to playing one but that’s about it. The movie gives only a fleeting reference to this despite signing R Badree to play Valson. In fact, even his full name isn’t taken. Those who don’t know Valson’s story won’t realize the importance of that scene. When your film is already two hours 42-minute-long, adding half a minute more wouldn’t have hurt. [Read Sunil Valson’s story HERE]

But this is just a minor issue. 83, as such, doesn’t have any negative point, although few moments are debatable.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Director: Kabir Khan

Producers: Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films

Writers: Kabir Khan, Vasan Bala, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Sumit Arora

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Pankaj Tripathi, Jiiva, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna, Ammy Virk, Hardy Sandhu, Chirag Patil, Dhairya Karwa, Addinath Kothare, Sahil Khattar, Dinkar Sharma, Nishant Dahiya, R Badree, Deepika Padukone

Also read:

Zimbabwe’s iconic feat in 1983 World Cup is forgotten

He was selected in 1983 WC, but could play for India only in 1999

Zimbabwe’s iconic feat in 83 World Cup is forgotten

December 20, 2021 by Keyur Seta 5 Comments

When we think of Zimbabwe with regards to the 1983 World Cup, the only match that comes to our minds is the one where they reduced India for 17 for 5 and still lost the match, thanks to Kapil Dev’s incredible 175 not out.

But there is more to Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup than their dramatic defeat against India. What they achieved in the tournament is rare and, unfortunately for them, hardly spoken or written about.

Zimbabwe won the ICC Trophy in 1982 in England after defeating Bermuda in the finals and hence qualified for the 1983 World Cup that was played in the same country.

Zimbabwe’s first match was against a strong and established team like Australia at Trent Bridge on 9 June 1983. As they were to play their first ever international series, there were no hopes from them. It would have been good for them even if they gave a decent fight to the opposing team.

But they did much more than that.

Batting first, Zimbabwean openers Ali Shah and Grant Paterson gave them a good start but both were dismissed with the score being on 55. Captain Duncan Fletcher had his task cut out as one of the prominent batsman David Houghton was out for a golden duck at the score being 86 for 4.

But Fletcher played a true captain’s innings with an unbeaten 69 off just 84 balls and helped Zimbabwe reach 239 for 6 off their 60 overs.

Zimbabwe 1983 World Cup — Duncan Fletcher at the post-match presentation [Photo source: ICC Twitter page]

Chasing 240 in 60 overs against minnows looked like an easy task. But Fletcher wasn’t done yet. He excelled with the ball as well and ensured that Zimbabwe won the match! Yes, the African country in their first ever match and that too against a test-playing team like Australia managed to win by 13 runs. This went down as the first ever upset in World Cup history.

In fact, this remains the only instance where an associate nation won its first ever ODI match against a test-playing nation.

Fletcher had figures of 4 for 42 from 11 overs. This coupled with his heroic innings with the bat rightfully earned him the man of the match award.

Strangely, Australia didn’t get all out. They lost by not being able to score 240 despite having 60 overs at their disposal. They lost their 7^th wicket at the score of 176. Rodney Marsh and Rodney Hogg then scored 50 off 42 balls and 19 off 22 balls respectively and had a 50 run unbeaten stand. But that wasn’t enough as the damage was already done by the top order by scoring slow.

I am sure Zimbabweans would have been over-the-moon with the result. But unfortunately, there isn’t a single video available of this match anywhere on the internet.

Zimbabwe, however, couldn’t repeat this feat in the remaining five matches of the series, although they did put India in a state of panic in their infamous defeat. But the team slowly progressed from here on. In the 90s and early 2000s, they defeated India on few occasions, including the close encounter in the 1999 World Cup, and got them tensed in few other. They also got the test status in 1992.

Unfortunately, political turmoil gripped the African nation at the start of the new millennium. During their 2003 World Cup campaign, Grant Flower and Henry Olonga protested against their government by wearing black bands on their arms and that was the end of their career as well as Zimbabwe’s miniature dominance. Their national team has been trying to climb the ladder since years.

These days, they are playing as an associate nation and hoping for a comeback and, maybe, a few more upsets.

Also read:

90s Flashback: Ajay JADEJA averaged 354 in this tri-series

He played 1 test but has ZERO tests to his name

Ajaz Patel: Witnessing history LIVE at Wankhede on an unusual day of cricket

December 4, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

I had unusual feelings while entering the Wankhede Stadium today on the second day of the second test between India vs New Zealand. I was happy to have got a chance to witness test cricket after 9 years. But it also reminded me that this was the first time I would be watching a test live after Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement. The last I went to see a test was in 2012 when England crushed India.

India was to resume after ending the rain-interrupted first day on 221 for 4 with Mayank Agarwal not out on a century overnight. I was hoping to see India put on at least a respectable score and then get few New Zealand wickets.

But I had never imagined that I would be witnessing something historical and this would then be followed by something completely unexpected.

I reached around half an hour late because of some massive confusion over which gate to enter from. They changed the gates after ages. So by the time I reached, India were 6 down but Mayank Agarwal was still not out. I wanted India to bat at least some more time and reach 300. I wasn’t disappointed as Mayank reached 150 and Axar Patel made a gutsy half century.

But after Mayank got out at the score of 291 for 7, we realized we might see something special here as all 7 wickets were taken by Ajaz Patel. I developed mixed feelings at this stage. I wanted India to score well but at the same time I also wondered what if Ajaz Patel creates history today?

But an aggressive and short-tempered boy sitting ahead of me was angry and he kept saying that Patel shouldn’t be the next after Anil Kumble to pick up all 10 wickets.

When Ajaz Patel picked up 9 wickets, I dearly wanted to see him pick the 10^th as well, so that I get to witness history. The aggressive boy would have labeled me “anti-national” if I told him my wish.

Then came the moment when Mohammed Siraj lofted Patel in a miscued shot. When Rachin Ravindra was getting under the ball, it was the first time in my life that I badly wanted an Indian batter to get out. When he finally caught the ball, I rose up with jubilation. And to my pleasant surprise, the entire stadium did.

I wasn’t the only “anti-national” over there. The stadium was full of them, except that aggressive boy who had gone quite by now.

On a serious note, we were delighted to witness something that has happened just for the third time in the 144 years old test cricket history! This day shall remain one of the most memorable ones.

This was even special because Patel achieved the historic feat in the city he was born and brought up (in Jogeshwari locality) till he was eight years old.

As Indian fans would know, Anil Kumble was the second bowler in history to take all 10 wickets against Pakistan in the second innings of the Delhi test in 1999.

The first one was the England’s off-spinner Jim Laker who picked up 10 wickets against Australia in the second innings of the 1956 test at Manchester. More astonishingly, he had picked up 9 wickets in the first innings of the same match! It will take some doing to even equal Laker’s record of 19 wickets in a match.

But just when we thought we had seen it all, the dialogue, “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost” played out. I wanted India to pick wickets regularly to stay in the game but what we saw looked like a highlights package. Who would have expected New Zealand to be bundled out for just 62? There was more surprise in store when Indian captain Virat Kohli didn’t enforce the follow on.

Looking back, from a neutral point of view, it also feels bad for Ajaz Patel. He achieved rare history but on the same day his side got all out for 62 and is staring at a massive defeat, unless a miracle happens.

So how exactly should he look back at the day?

Also read:

15 years later: From Tendulkar’s comeback to Aleem Dar’s batting, this match saw it all

Only time Tendulkar was NOT selected in team India, neither injured nor rested