Disclaimer - I am not a film critic or even a movie buff, so don’t expect a “critique” of the film.
Any Indian cricket fan, who is on the right side of 40, will tell you that the 1983 World Cup win at Lord's was far more important, certainly more evocative, than the win in 2011 win at Mumbai. The 2011 win stamped India's authority on the game. Moreover a win on home soil made it extra sweet. But the 1983 win represents the spirit of the underdog, the humility of the surprise winner. It evokes thankfulness after years of celebrating “good fights” and “draws”.
As a 9-year-old,
I followed the group stages of the World Cup on All India Radio with my dad. We would then devour
every word in the newspaper. I remember literally half the neighborhood at our
house during the semi-final and final since we were one of the few households
that had a television.
They say a
movie is never as good as the book. Having lived through the experience with fond
memories, I was a bit apprehensive about watching the movie. For someone who is
not a movie buff, I’ve seen the movie twice. The brilliance of the movie can be gauged by the fact that despite knowing that it was a
movie, I cheered. It's a movie for the die hard fans but also those distant from the game. My wife who is not a cricket fan is threatening to watch it again. My two non-Hindi speaking, football loving sons were spellbound for the duration of the film.
There are
five things that struck me
1. #notjustcricket
– Someone rightly said that comparing a book to a movie is like comparing a
wine glass to a mirror. They have the same ingredients but are not comparable.
The same is true of movies based on sports.
“Drive to success” – the Netflix series on Formula 1 is widely credited with reviving the sagging fan base of Formula1. It's success lies not in uncovering the technicalities of a highly technical sport but in exploring the human side.
In a similar vein, 83 is not just about the
cricket. In fact, the cricket appears to be a by product, an afterthought. The movie misses the
tension and the on field drama. It reduces most matches to a modern day 5 minute highlights package. For instance, the run out of Lamb in the semi final, was undoubtedly the result of the brilliance of
Yashpal Sharma. Those of us who watched the match will remember that it was brought about by the chokehold that Amarnath and
Kirti had the batsman in. One of the many things you would’nt get by watching
the movie.
83 the movie is more about the human side.
Like every die-hard cricket fan, I knew the scorecards of the matches but I had
not realized the trials and tribulations of finding food as a vegetarian in England in 1983.
Can't blame Srikant for wanting to sneak in another dosa.
I did not know about Sandhu’s engagement breaking up on the eve of the semi-finals and his playing through the emotional agony. That is the kind of story that makes you realise how the 1983 World Cup win was a triumph of the human spirit.
It was not just the off pitch human side but also the on-pitch human side. Amarnath and Srikant standing up to the West Indian fast bowlers despite knowing what happened to Dilip in the previous match or Sandhu battling it out for 22 runs after being hit on the helmet were examples of the "steely" human side. On the other hand, Yashpal ignoring the advice of his partners to remain aggressive was an example of the "light hearted" human side.
2. #keptitreal – Probably the easy part was recreating the locations and the scoreboards since it was well documented. What was impressive was how they got right the mannerisms of the cricketers. The unique bowling action of Kapil, the half jump celebration of Sandhu, the inimitable circular movement celebration of Shastri and the fidgetiness of Srikant. In fact, despite knowing it was Ranveer Singh, I just saw Kapil Dev through the movie.
The movie did a brilliant job of keeping it real and authentic with one exception. During the finals, the match was interrupted not by signal failures but by the Doordarshan news which prevented us watching live, probably the best catch ever taken.
I could’nt help notice that Tide billboards were at every location – another deviation from reality which comes down to them being a sponsor for the movie.
3. #didnotdoKAPILjustice – I absolutely loved the movie. But I do not think the movie did justice enough to the inspirational leadership of, a then 24 year old, Kapil Dev.
The movie makes a mere fleeting reference to the fact that 7 of the team members were his seniors without exploring the complexities involved. How does a 24 year old not just contend with but inspire seniors in the team including someone he has just replaced as the captain. He clearly did it in a manner which allowed him to command the respect of the team while allowing Gavaskar the space to offer him advice like bringing on Shastri at a crunch time vs. West Indies. The humility of Kapil in accepting the advice added a feather to his leadership.
Some of his decisions as a captain were arguably idiosyncratic but proved to be strokes of genius. Playing an untested Kirti Azad in a semi-final ahead of Ravi Shastri was surely idiosyncratic but Kirti proved to be a matchwinner.
In that semi-final against England, it was idiosyncratic to bowl the 5th and 6th bowlers (Amarnath and Kirti) in tandem. That spell dried out the runs. It resulted in not just Lamb’s run out but Botham playing false shot to get bowled by Kirti. Here again, the movie does a disservice to the spell of Amarnath and Kirti by reducing Botham’s wicket to a fluke.
It was Kapil’s leadership that got match winning performances from players like Sandhu, Madan Lal, Yashpal Sharma and Roger Binny who till then had lackluster careers. His leadership engendered the interdependence within the team which formed the bedrock from which rescue missions were launched at crucial times. Another outcome of the interdependence was the team learning from the seniors. Sandhu learning to bowl the "disguised" in swinger and following Gavaskar's advice to bowl one to Gordon Greenidge in the finals were classic examples.
For him to be able to inspire the team to take the finals after being bowled out for 183 and retain a belief in their ability to win is the stuff that leadership legends are made of.
The movie does do justice to his individual brilliance at Turnbridge Wells. The other saving grace was that the movie started with a shot of Kapil running back to catch Viv Richards – in my books probably the best catch ever taken.
4. #takesjustonewin
– Geeta Phogat’s gold medal at the Commonwealth Games changed the trajectory of
women’s wrestling in India. It is also impacting the demographics of her home state Haryana.
There was a time when female infanticide was rampant in the state but no longer. Now when a
girl is born instead of worrying about dowry, the common refrain is “pahalwan bana denge” (we will make her a wrestler).
The 1983 win moved cricket from a popular sport
to being the only sport in India. From playing second fiddle to “doctors and
engineers” in the income department, to earning in the millions, the financial
fortunes of the cricketing fraternity was definitely changed by 1983.
5. #englishisoverrated
– In my professional life I have a strong view that the command over the
English language is a meaningless proxy for competence. It is like assuming
that because there is sunshine there is warmth.
The general lack of command over the English language of the Indian players, with a few exceptions, was evident in the gaffe's like "I'm Balwinder Singh Sandhu. Balls to you" and mispronouncing acidity making it sound like STD.
The spotlight on lack of command over English invariably fell on the captain. Kapil was inarticulate in English and the
tongue wants more will go into folklore thanks to the movie. He could not
articulate his dream of winning the world cup. His articulation in English was
limited to “we here to win”. While he probably expressed it better in Hindi he still did not articulate it. It was, in my opinion, his body language that articulated his
dream, his burning desire to win the cup. It is what inspired an improbably
miracle to occur.
I have already watched the movie twice on the big screen. I can envisage myself seeing it again on the big screen at least once more and then many times once it is finally released on Netflix in Singapore. This comes from someone who is not a movie buff and is down to the fact that 83 is not a film it's an EMOTION.
PS - The 2007 T20 World Cup Win while not in the same league as the 1983 or 2011 win was worth a celebration for two reasons. Firstly, it came after two hard fought and close games against arch rivals Pakistan. Secondly, it came after an embarrassing ODI World Cup earlier in the year where India lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to crash out of the group stage.
