The promise of 83… and the eventual disappointment The Other Banana

In the latest episode of the podcast, we discuss the recent Bollywood  movie 83 – which retells the story of India’s miraculous victory in the  1983 World Cup.

Talking Points:


A missed opportunity to recreate the cricketing miracle that was 1983
The conspicuous absence of India’s victory over West Indies at Berbice
The complete erasure of Mohinder Amarnath’s golden season
Ranveer Singh and Jiiva – and their game attempt to approximate Kapil Dev and Krishnamachari Srikkanth
The film not setting the context for the 1983 World Cup
The lack of a genuine bad guy – which makes the movie search for antagonists
The factual inaccuracies in the movie – including a big faux pas in the final scene
The movie explaining scenes way more than showing them through storytelling
The cinematographic techniques – long-shots combined with close-ups and highlight reels
The nationalistic tone that runs through the movie
The Malayalam movie 1983, which takes a completely different approach to recreating the miracle of 1983
The Indian cricket ecosystem’s inability to create cultural value and works of art



Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Aditya Shrikrishna (@gradwolf)

Anantha (@anantha)

Related:

With Obvious Storytelling, ’83’ Is an Opportunity Lost to Show Underdog India’s Famous WC Victory – Tanul Thakur – The Wire

83 Loses Itself In The Excesses Of Euphoria – Rahul Desai – Film Companion

Lead image from here.