TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Bollywood replays India's seminal 1983 cricket triumph
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
In this picture taken on December 22, 2021, Bollywood director Kabir Khan (2L) and his wife Mini Mathur and their children arrive for the premiere of the movie '83' in Mumbai. (AFP/Sujit Jaiswal)
B
ollywood's retelling of the 1983 World Cup hits cinemas Friday, recalling a stunning underdog victory that was instrumental in turning India into the cricket-crazy nation it is today.
Captained by Kapil Dev, seen now as one of cricket's best ever players, India began the tournament in England as rank outsiders but ended up triumphing over the all-conquering West Indies in the final at a raucous Lord's.
The victory "was the turning point of how we saw ourselves as a cricketing nation, and... that incredible win fed into the veins of a country that till then had seen itself as also-rans on and off the cricket field," the Indian Express daily said ahead of the release of 83.
"The next morning, banner headlines screamed 'The Cup Is Ours', and nothing was ever the same. It was a blood rush to beat all blood rushes," the paper said.
The first sign that India meant business was in the group stage of the tournament when Dev made 175 not out -- with India having been on the ropes at 17 for 5 -- against Zimbabwe.
A BBC strike on the day meant it was not filmed but hallowed cricketing almanac Wisden called it "one of the most spectacular innings played in this form of cricket".
'No expectations'
