By Roger Seymour
In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket, Roger Seymour examines the making of Kabir Khan’s epic film 83 and the legendary cricket match it pays homage to. There are no real spoilers here as the intention is to provide insight.
Creating a sports film of one of the biggest upsets in the history of international sporting events – India’s triumph over the West Indies, two-time defending champions in the 1983 Prudential World Cup Final – had to be a daunting task. One imagines there would have been concerns about whether the current generation, weaned on instant cricket of the T20 blend, would be interested in a film about a 50-over tournament from the last century. Especially one where the players have all drifted off into the sunset.
Over a decade in the making, the film 83, one of the most anticipated in Indian cinema history, was initially scheduled to be released on 10th April, 2020, but fell foul to the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic. After several postponements, it was finally released worldwide in 80 countries on 24th December, 2021 in five languages: Hindi (with English subtitles), Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.