Filmmaker Kabir Khan is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film – 83, a sports drama which revolves around the true story of India’s incredible cricket World Cup victory in 1983.
There are several interesting aspects and facts from India’s World Cup journey. Sharing one such incident, the filmmaker says that one of the players to make it to the team was Krishnamachari Srikkanth who got married that very year in the month of March. As soon as he realised that the Indian Team was selected for the World Cup, he, along with six other cricketers, had planned a trip to the US.
Kabir revealed, “Srikkanth, along with six other players, was all set to fly out as soon as the group stage ended as he was confident that India would be knocked out of the contention soon. All seven had booked their tickets from Mumbai to New York via London. In Srikkanth’s words, ‘We will play the World Cup on the way to a holiday in the US’. Nobody, including the team, believed that we had a chance of making it to the semis, let alone the finals and later lift the trophy.” The team had return tickets booked during mid-tournament as nobody thought that they would get past the group matches that ended on the June 20, 1983. The semi finals were scheduled for June 22.
“It’s interesting to see how after booking return tickets, the team made history and not only did Team India perform well but also ended up winning the whole tournament, etching a place for themselves in the history of cricket,” he added.
Before India’s historic win at the 1983 World Cup, India was nonexistent on the world map when it came to sports and no one expected Team India to perform well, let alone win the World Cup.
The film is being presented by Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films. It is produced by Deepika Padukone, Kabir Khan, Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Sajid Nadiadwala, Phantom Films, Reliance Entertainment and 83 Film Ltd. Though the film was scheduled to release in April, it has been postponed due to the lockdown. The makers are yet to make an official announcement about its release date. The film will release in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
