User reviews

Usually, sports films focus on the dramatic story surrounding the actual sports to make the story more interesting for a film. When it comes to Bollywood there would be a whole lot more drama and nationalism added to make it a commercial entertainer. But what 83 does is, it made a film completely around the actual sports event and made everything surrounding it the filler contents that offers comedy and a few other commercial elements. This is the good thing and the bad thing about this film at the same time.

The movie is made in such a way that anyone who is not too familiar with cricket is not gonna enjoy this movie at all. On top of that, the filler content in between the sports highlights is more than often overdramatic, which can put off the aforementioned audience easily.

But for people who have grown up with cricket, especially those who watched the 1983 Cricket world cup live and those who grew up listening to that story, this will be a very entertaining watch. Right from the casting of each member of the team, they made a splendid job. Whenever they cut from a match to the TV screen showing the actual matches that happened in 1983, the casting and the attention to detail in making each shot perfect made it a smooth transition where you barely notice the change between the actors and the real-life players.

The casting, the cricket matches, each and every ball and shot, the mannerism and personalities of each team member have all been captured perfectly. To top that off, the small cameos of the real players, the inclusion of other so-called easter eggs all made it wholesome.

This is a very flawed film that leans closer to docu-fiction rather than just a historical biopic. So those who expect more than that may get disappointed.

The team has brought the 83 cricket word cup matches to the big screens. Everyone knows what happened on 1983 but the screenplay making and acting made the movie enjoyable and interesting.

25th June 1983 is etched in the heart and mind of every Indian alive - it was the day of reckoning for Indian cricket, and I don't think that I shall be much wrong in claiming that this achievement turned the game into a cult in India. Written off by one and all as underdogs who had never won a World Cup cricket match except having beaten East Africa in one of the matches in the previous two versions, no one had any expectations from India. But the victory and the subsequent photos emerging from Lords with Kapil Dev receiving the much coveted trophy and holding it high with the team, gave a new dimension and pillar to the national pride. The game still belonged to gentlemen those days, and the exuberance of the achievement was a muted, dignified and graceful celebration, without the chest beating and physically expressive stuff we have gotten used to seeing now.

So when director Kabir Khan announced 83, the expectations from the movie soared. 83 is therefore saddled, whether Khan likes it or not, a billion different objectives, views, opinions, desires and elements of national pride that varies widely. For some, it's the players, and for others it would be the team, spirit, character, grit, emotions, and the list is endless. The story has a foregone conclusion and hence Kabir Khan was entrusted to give the victory a dimension that's perhaps hitherto unknown to our generation and beyond. The good news is that he succeeds partially with it for the audience that lived the occasion, but scores hugely for Gen Y, the millennials and Gen Z, to whom 83 is a story of pride rising from the ashes, it's Phoenix all the way. We shall be contented with your swashbuckling presentation of the subject, Kabir Khan.

But critically speaking, 83 is far from Kabir Khan's legacy of films, and I cannot help comparing it to Shimit Amin's "Chak De India". Of course, the latter was a fictional story and Amin had the whole canvas to paint on, whilst 83 perhaps tied Khan's hands to a great extent with reality where creativity is concerned. Hard as he may have tried, it's very difficult to take Ranveer Singh out of Ranveer Singh and Kapil Dev has a lot of the actor infused into his character. The rest of the team is a whole lot of talented actors, but Khan didn't have too much meat for them. I thought the emotional journey of Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Vengsarkar, Sandeep Patil, Ravi Shastri, Sandhu, Valson and others also deserved a place, but then one can perhaps argue that 83 in that case would have become a miniseries and not a film. I agree. The music isn't inspiring and I didn't bring back any of the songs. Cricket wasn't technically great - too much focus on the ground banter, clichéd shot making techniques and stock clips of fielding (read players slumping on the ground failing to stop boundaries) make the game uninspiring.

But what I brought back home is what Sandhu said after his engagement had broken off by his fiancee due to his small home and paltry earnings - he compared himself to engineers and doctors and felt inferior. That was 83! Forty years later, tge present Indian cricket players can roll on the floor laughing at that economic plight. Oh cricket! How you've turned things on the head!

For those who have lived through the 83 times, it will be a memorable reminder of what the feelings were in India at that time. For those who were born just within the decade of 83 it will serve as a showcase for the events that we have heard off and the legends that we have seen. For the kids and teenagers who are following the cricket of today, this movie shows how the game became a second nature to most Indians and how the glamorous game was once a pale event.

Every generation has something to take away from the movie. Yes, it could have been better, but given the fact that it is coming from a director and a production house which wanted to make a mass-entertainer, it has done a great job.

Ranveer almost becomes Kapi Dev and you won't remember him any other way towards the end of the movie. The rest of the cast has also done a superb job with Jeeva, Pankaj and Hardy taking easily the attention away. The game itself has been shot brilliantly. If you are lucky to be among a jubilant crowd in the theater it will be a much exhilarating experience.

Go watch! Ignore the negative reviews. This story needs to be told for the current generation.

I went with low expectations but the movie really surprised it will really good had everything in it humor, emotion, action was feel good film worth watching on big screen.

This was my most anticipated film of the year but it is mediocre that i hate it i absolutely hate it with passion this story was so extraordinary no masala should have been their but this was one of the most saddest and melodramatic film of the year.

The movie is the experience of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning team. The good thing is none of the characters are vilified for the sake of 'antagonist' and everything is represented in the realms of Sports Drama. There are moments that make it emotional and make you cry. Kabir Khan and Ranveer Singh have pulled off a fantastic magic here. Do watch in theatres!!

I don't mind telling that I dislike Ranveer Singh as an actor. But he gained respect in my eyes with this role. He embodied "Kapil dev" in every way, his mannerisms, accent, bowling style. I was in the 10th standard when this World cup took place. Until then just like the English commentator, I didn't think India was capable of doing anything great. After that day when India lifted the World cup high, I believed we can achieve anything as a country as long as we have the belief and discipline. Kabir the director was able to capture that emotion and pride, I and millions of Indians felt that day in this movie. The actor who played Indira Gandhi was a spitting image of our late PM. Deepika seem to be an after thought when it came to casting. Except for Binny/Srikanth/Kirmani l do wish the rest of the cast were closer in looks/style to the original players. With the West Indies team it got more confusing as there were very less similarities to the original team.

I realize a fictional sports movie, is much more well received than a factual movie because in fiction you can add exaggerations to bolster the scenes while in a factual movie you are bound by facts.

Had this movie done well it would have been a perfect homage to the national heroes who put India on the international cricketing map. That was the foundation stone on which today's Indian team and their achievement stand on. Jai Hind !!!

83- Patriotic, energy pumping and goosebumps moments movie that invigorates lots of pride moments and fulfillment.

Kabir Khan carries forward the script, story and screenplay with finesse and maintains the cricket theme as the heart and soul, with zero deviation.

Ranveer Singh hits fours and sixes with pitch perfect "The Haryana Hurricane" Kapil paaji.

Cheeku's comic timing is on point. Rest of the characters have done extremely well.

This is not a cinema alone, as we get a chance to relive magical moments with thunderous experience. It's priceless!

The movie was great and it was a joy to watch the movie. All these SSR bots don't have anything going in their life so they just want to discredit someone's good work. Avoid nonsense and watch the movie.

Good movie, But this industry is gonna fall after SSR incident. A south Indian movie (Pushpa) did more money than 83 😂. There were many goosebumps moment in the movie.

What was the need of showing that pak army is being humble towards Indian army? This event never took place and has no relation with 83 world cup. There are many scenes where you've disgraced our 83 wc heroes and sounded then really characterless.

Very nice cinematography.. excellent performance by team and Ranveer singh .. u can feel the real 83 era in this movie.. after milkha singh this movie makes us emotional and gives goosebumps. ❤🇮🇳💪

It's a must watch movie, just loved it... complete drama movie and acting done by all actors is very well..don't just follow negative people who comment without watch.

Statement given pakistani will like it. In movie it is show that on world cup match let indian watch cricket Pakistan will no do blast for one day .. this is new india we like uri. Also story is flop even dhoni is far better.

Sameer Lodaya

Kabir khan has shown the journey of winning World Cup 83

The direction was of highest quality followed by sharp edits with extraordinary prosthetics..every actor gave their best and each character was equally weighted..some scenes were really emotional and gave a good touch of patriotism..humour was very good..thrills and goosebumps were felt in the climax ..the movie is focused mainly for commercial viewers..ranveer played the lead role very well with his high energy..Pankajji was the jewel in the cup..

Good songs were badly needed with sporting background scores..too too much of emotions which was not required as this is era of hard content..Little bit of polished and perfect cricket was required..

Was worth the wait.

"Your mettle should show in the scoreboard, not in your eyes." Kapil Dev's grounded and unassuming leadership makes for some good insights through the movie.

All the team members are unaffected and grounded and is a welcome change from the "me me" brouhaha that sometimes surrounds sports movies.

The movie's treatment aligns with Kapil's calm meter. There is not a lot of melodrama. It is almost like a cricket highlights documentary but that is fine. The movie does not try to pretend to be anything else. There were some scenes of how the soldiers fighting at the border were following the world cup. The movie would have been the same t-shirt without these threads hanging out.

Ranveer's transformation to Kapil Dev is remarkable. Teeth seemed to have protruded a little more than necessary. Otherwise, the demeanor and the conversation style all seemed to have been captured pretty well.

Casting of the players has been hit or miss. Some of them hit the right note, some may be not as much.

It is a light easy watch, meant to celebrate the champions of world cup 1983.

Those who has written negative reviews or given a 1 start just don't understand has an agenda against Ranveer Singh or Kabir Khan.

Don't trust those buggers, please go ahead and watch it in theatres. This movie deserves to be watched in theatres only. What a recreation of the 83 world cup, having born after 83, I could really feel the emotions. I didn't even know how 2.5 hrs passed, literally I slept in almost all movies when I sit in a recliner seat but not on this one. The music, the acting, the story...it's simply awesome. Please go and watch.

The story behind Indian cricket team's famous victory of 1983 cricket world cup , a good movie to watch ,good screenplay and background music , good dialogues , but still after finishing whole movie it feels like something was missing which would give you the goosebumps , it could have been more interesting than this , some scenes looks like clearly copied from MS Dhoni biopic movie, if Neeraj Pandey have directed this movie then he could give the proper justice to film this historical incident .It one time watch ,a good movie but not like "to watch again and again" movie .

Look first it's a docudrama, which means everyone has to look and act like a real life Indian cricketer. This is a technically well made movie. You see some actual real cricket action not just patched up shots of someone bowling and someone batting. They have tried to recreate the same play sequences as much as possible. So the ball seams or spins or swings as was seen on the live telecast.

The West Indian actors as cricketers were good and they plugged in quite well to the narrative. Well they got Malcolm Marshall's son to play as him no wonder it looked very realistic.

Yes there are the usual cliches and some history lessons and a tiny bit of melodrama you would expect in any Bollywood movie but it keeps you entertained.

If you hate cricket don't bother as that's what 90% of the movie is about. There aren't any silly song sequences and traditional melodramas.

Jiiva as Srikanth and Ranveer as Kapil Dev are simply great.

All in all an entertaining fare and this should serve as an impetus for other sports movies as well.

Enjoyed the movie except for Deepika's face come up every now and then at the end. I understand she was playing role of a family member, but you kept taking away the emotions. I was only imagining Kapil Dev in Ranveer's role. But Deepika was Deepika. Nothing else. She kept demanding screen time just because she was "Deepika".

Same old concept. I would watch a documentary instead that would give me the actual feel of his it was in 1983. This! A definite No.

Sorry but as a cricket fan Ranveer was unable sell Himself as Kapil Sir.

Music was ok Direction was good but i have seen better work from Kabir Khan Some of the actor was good, rest of them are Goofy including Ranveer. And for Deepika dont get me started.

A wonderful and breath freshing film with all the actors did great in filling the shoes of the cricketers which is in itself a huge achievement. Ranveer singh take a bow ,the Man never disappoints including co actors pankaj tripathi and the ones who played srikkanth,yashpal sharma were outstanding. The film is mixture of all the aspects emotions, nationalism,pride, dedication,hardwork and lots of laughter. It is written really well and always keeps you on the edge of your seat and takes you through the journey of the story. Never feels bored and the film itself teaches you to enjoy the life.the film has so many moments through out which will make you die laughing.

The negative aspect of the film is the melo-drama which is generally expected to digest for the Indian audience. It gets more and more as the tournament progresses and ruins the finale.

Deepika Padukone had a short role did look good but was unnecessary.

With a glimpse cameo of Kapil Dev himself the film is a complete mass entertainer.

I will give it 8 out of 10 stars.