83

About the film

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.

Plot

In 1983 BCCI officials in Mumbai are invited to the Cricket World Cup. The team arrive London where they witness the West Indies Cricket Team being hounded by paparazzi.

Despite abysmal performance in warm-up matches, Indian captain Kapil Dev tells the press they are here to win. At a Buckingham Palace reception, the Queen wishes the teams luck. Dev gives the team an inspirational speech in his novice English.

India is in Group B alongside Australia, West Indies, and Zimbabwe. India unexpectedly wins against West Indies at Old Trafford. Yashpal Sharma is Player of the Match for his 89 runs - the highest by an Indian cricketer at the time. They win their next match against Zimbabwe at Grace Road, Leicester. Sandeep Patil scores a half-century and Madan Lal is Player of the Match.

Production

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 Films — 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".

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.As a young schoolboy when I watched India win the 1983 Cricket World Cup. I had no idea that from that day onwards cricket in India will change forever. As a filmmaker, for me, the journey to that win, filled with raw energy and sheer passion of that young Indian team, is probably one of the most exciting stories I have worked on.

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".

Music

The film's soundtrack is composed by Pritam, who worked with Kabir Khan's previous films including New York (2009), Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Phantom (2015) and Tubelight (2017). The film score is composed by Julius Packiam. Pritam began composing for the film's soundtrack during mid-2019, and complete within mid-2021. The original soundtrack featured 14 compositions, with six original tunes, five alternatives and three instrumentals. Lyrics for the songs are written by Kausar Munir, Jaideep Sahni, Prashant Ingole and Ashish Pandit, and vocals were provided by Arijit Singh, Benny Dayal, Tushar Joshi, Krishnakumar Kunnath, Amit Mishra, Papon and Raghav Chaitanya. The songs — "Lehra Do" and "Bigadne Do" — were released as lead singles from the album on 6 and 13 December 2021 respectively. The full soundtrack album was released on 23 December by Zee Music Company label, a day prior to the film's release.

Key details