83

83 (2021)

Directed by: Kabir Khan
Starring: Ranveer Singh
Spoilers Ahead (about the cameos)

I thoroughly enjoyed the film, but I was slightly underwhelmed because of my high expectations from the trailer. Ranveer Singh was fantastic - not for a moment could I see Ranveer in the frame and it felt like it was Kapil Dev throughout. It's a story of an underdog team, winning the world cup and they establish a lot of antagonism through criticism. Everyone laughs at the idea of India winning. I also liked how they showed that cricket unites us as a country and even a situation like riots could be calmed down because of cricket. But then I wasn't feeling so strongly when all this was happening. I think it's because 60-70% of the film felt like a compilation of highlights of the world cup. Watching a cricket match is fun, but watching highlights isn't. Even in a film like Jersey, the best part of the film is not the cricket matches. The way they shot and cut the games - it felt slightly exhausting for me, especially the semi-final. 

I loved Sachin's cameo - I was wondering if they should've shown Dhoni as a baby too when the world cup was happening - and then the comic in me was thinking if they should've shown Virat's dad flirting with Virat's mom when the cup was happening. No. It was a bad joke. Ignore. Coming back to the film - I enjoyed the film, it was beautifully shot and produced. Felt like I was just transported to the world back then. Just witnessing something like this is beautiful - but the trailer set an insanely high expectation for me - where I was expecting this, and also the high you get when you watch a Bajrangi Bhaijaan - which I think some people would've gotten but I didn't. Perhaps because the film focused on capturing the cricket matches more than evoking emotions. But yes, in whatever scope they had, they definitely evoked emotions - for me a really good moment was when the team walks out of the pavilion to field in the finals. I loved Jeetega Jeetega song - I just thought it could've been cut better because the way the trailer used the song was something else altogether.