I had great expectations from this film, but after watching it I wondered as to what was the point of making this film. This movie is more of a documentary than a feature film. Watching this film felt like watching highlights of multiple cricket matches. '83' has a lot of cricket, depiction of incidents that actually took place, but I just couldn't connect emotionally with the proceedings of the film nor could I find any reason as to why a movie was required to showcase all these things.
If we think about it, 1983 Cricket World Cup was a tournament in which India was one of the lowest ranked teams, a team that no one believed in. But that team not only managed to win the world cup but also did it by defeating the strongest team in the world. How did they do it ? No one knows the inside story of how the underdogs became world champions. Now this plot is extremely intriguing, this is the story that we all want to know. Today, everyone knows that India is a cricketing superpower, but India's success story has been 38 years in the making. This is why I always felt that India's 1983 World Cup triumph story deserves to be told on a big screen in a theatre, but after watching Kabir Khan's 83, I was massively disappointed.
Perhaps real life is not always as interesting as it's shown in the sports movies we have seen so far, or may be director Kabir Khan did not want to ruffle the wrong feathers by showing anything controversial. Maybe the problem with this film was that it focused on the event and the entire team in general, while most sports related movies depict the stories from the point of view of one player, and this is one of the key reasons why it felt like watching a documentary, because none of the characters were fleshed out properly, or given a backstory. The movie does mention some incidents from the player's lives, but they don't make any kind of impact. A good story alone cannot make a good film, it needs a good storyteller as well. There was no real flow in this film, it felt like certain real life sequences were randomly stitched together to make this film. What we wanted was an inside story, but what we got instead was a bird's eye view. I feel Kabir Khan wasn't the right person to make this film.
A very important thing missing from the film was any kind of conflict, anywhere. Achievement of the ultimate goal feels even sweeter, when you know the hardships that the players have gone through, the obstacles that were laid down in their path. Unfortunately there is none of that in this film. Popular sport films like 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar', 'Saala Khadoos', 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag', 'Chak De India', 'Paan Singh Tomar' are not only remembered for the ultimate goal achieved by the protagonists, but also for all the conflicts and sub conflicts depicted in the film. Unfortunately there is none of that in this film. The movie remains plain and simple throughout its runtime.
Another issue that I had with this film was its below par background music. These kind of films need to have music that gets on your blood, touches your heart, evokes emotions, gets you excited, gives you goosebumps, but the background score of this film did none of that. I felt that it was quite ordinary and some of it wasn't even original.
Despite all the problems with the film, there were certainly a few things that were truly praiseworthy :
1. The casting and make-up was on point. All the actors looked almost exactly like the player they were depicting.
2. The cricket matches felt real. The massive stadiums filled with thousands of people, the camera work and the action on field made it feel like it was an actual match that you were watching.
3. Although, there wasn't a lot of scope for any actor to showcase his or her acting skills, but Ranveer Singh and Jiiva deserve to be mentioned for nailing their characters to perfection.
4. There were quite a few goosebumps inducing moments in the film, especially the scene when Indian team gets unexpected support and motivation from a very special spectator and the song 'Lehra Do' plays in the background.
5. The blending of real life footage, depicting how it actually happened, with the scenes of the film was done very well and certainly added a lot of value to the movie watching experience.
83 did not turn out to be the film that I was hoping for, and I can't even recommend it to any cricket lover or anyone in general who wishes to know how India stunned the cricketing world in the year 1983. I would much rather recommend people to watch the highlights videos of the actual match available on YouTube. But I would still want some other filmmaker to make another film on this subject, and in that depict a story that feels more flesh and blood than a general documentary.
If we think about it, 1983 Cricket World Cup was a tournament in which India was one of the lowest ranked teams, a team that no one believed in. But that team not only managed to win the world cup but also did it by defeating the strongest team in the world. How did they do it ? No one knows the inside story of how the underdogs became world champions. Now this plot is extremely intriguing, this is the story that we all want to know. Today, everyone knows that India is a cricketing superpower, but India's success story has been 38 years in the making. This is why I always felt that India's 1983 World Cup triumph story deserves to be told on a big screen in a theatre, but after watching Kabir Khan's 83, I was massively disappointed.
Perhaps real life is not always as interesting as it's shown in the sports movies we have seen so far, or may be director Kabir Khan did not want to ruffle the wrong feathers by showing anything controversial. Maybe the problem with this film was that it focused on the event and the entire team in general, while most sports related movies depict the stories from the point of view of one player, and this is one of the key reasons why it felt like watching a documentary, because none of the characters were fleshed out properly, or given a backstory. The movie does mention some incidents from the player's lives, but they don't make any kind of impact. A good story alone cannot make a good film, it needs a good storyteller as well. There was no real flow in this film, it felt like certain real life sequences were randomly stitched together to make this film. What we wanted was an inside story, but what we got instead was a bird's eye view. I feel Kabir Khan wasn't the right person to make this film.
A very important thing missing from the film was any kind of conflict, anywhere. Achievement of the ultimate goal feels even sweeter, when you know the hardships that the players have gone through, the obstacles that were laid down in their path. Unfortunately there is none of that in this film. Popular sport films like 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar', 'Saala Khadoos', 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag', 'Chak De India', 'Paan Singh Tomar' are not only remembered for the ultimate goal achieved by the protagonists, but also for all the conflicts and sub conflicts depicted in the film. Unfortunately there is none of that in this film. The movie remains plain and simple throughout its runtime.
Another issue that I had with this film was its below par background music. These kind of films need to have music that gets on your blood, touches your heart, evokes emotions, gets you excited, gives you goosebumps, but the background score of this film did none of that. I felt that it was quite ordinary and some of it wasn't even original.
Despite all the problems with the film, there were certainly a few things that were truly praiseworthy :
1. The casting and make-up was on point. All the actors looked almost exactly like the player they were depicting.
2. The cricket matches felt real. The massive stadiums filled with thousands of people, the camera work and the action on field made it feel like it was an actual match that you were watching.
3. Although, there wasn't a lot of scope for any actor to showcase his or her acting skills, but Ranveer Singh and Jiiva deserve to be mentioned for nailing their characters to perfection.
4. There were quite a few goosebumps inducing moments in the film, especially the scene when Indian team gets unexpected support and motivation from a very special spectator and the song 'Lehra Do' plays in the background.
5. The blending of real life footage, depicting how it actually happened, with the scenes of the film was done very well and certainly added a lot of value to the movie watching experience.
83 did not turn out to be the film that I was hoping for, and I can't even recommend it to any cricket lover or anyone in general who wishes to know how India stunned the cricketing world in the year 1983. I would much rather recommend people to watch the highlights videos of the actual match available on YouTube. But I would still want some other filmmaker to make another film on this subject, and in that depict a story that feels more flesh and blood than a general documentary.