Inside Bollywood’s take on India’s 1983 World Cup victory

MUMBAI:

The Bollywood tale of the 1983 World Cup hit theaters on Friday, recalling a stunning underdog victory that helped make India the cricketer mad nation it is today.

Captain by Kapil Dev, now considered one of the best cricketers of all time, India started the tournament in England as a rank underdog, but ended up triumphing over the conquering West Indies in the final in the final. ‘a noisy Lord’s.

The victory “was the turning point in how we saw ourselves as a cricket nation, and… this incredible victory fueled the veins of a country which until then had considered itself a runner on and off the cricket ground, “the Indian Express daily told the news before the release of” 83 “.

“The next morning the banner headlines were shouting ‘The Cup is Ours’, and nothing was ever the same. It was a blood rush to beat all the blood rushes,” the newspaper said. .

The first sign that India was serious was in the group stage of the tournament when Dev failed to eliminate 175 – India having been on the ropes 17-5 – against Zimbabwe.

A BBC strike on the day meant this extraordinary feat was not filmed, but Wisden’s Sacred Cricket Almanac called it “one of the most spectacular rounds played in this form of cricket”.

‘No expectations’

An easy semi-final victory over an imaginary England side – with greats like Ian Botham, David Gower and Bob Willis – then staged the grand final against the defending champions West Indies.

The West Indies were the best team in the world with formidable fast bowlers Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding, as well as batting battleships Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Clive Lloyd.

But India sailed to victory, causing uproar in the Lord’s stands and at home.

Balwinder Sandhu, who scored an important 11 as the last man – and then beat Greenidge for one – remembers being punched in the helmet by a Marshall bouncer.

“It made me more determined… I didn’t flinch,” Sandhu, who helped advise the cast and director of ‘83 Kabir Khan, said AFP.

The West Indies had “fast top bowlers who had a ‘ruthless’ attitude,” said Sandhu. “It was a great feeling to be 10 or 15 points ahead of them.”

“Never the same again”

Veteran journalist Ayaz Memon, who covered the tournament, said cricket was already very popular and India won a series of tests in England in 1971 for the first time.

“But that was the unexpectedness of the triumph. Who had thought India would beat the world champions? It sparked so much passion and interest in the game in India that it was never the same again,” said Memon declared on publication.

The victory also exposed cricket’s business opportunities in India, paving the way for the money-spinning spectacle that it is now.

This was also motivated by the opening of the economy and the advent of cable television in the 1990s.

“It (the victory) completely transformed the future of not only Indian cricket but also cricket as an international sport. After that India kind of became the epicenter of the cricket world,” said Memon.

Dev is played in “83” by Ranveer Singh. The Bollywood superstar honed his own cricket skills four hours a day for six months to bowl and bat – and walk, talk and smile – like the captain.

In an interview with the outlet, Dev said India has been helped by its status as an outsider and is “just having fun.” “There was no expectation. All the media attention was on Australia, England, the West Indies, and all the pressure was on the other teams,” said the 62-year-old.

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