‘You will see Kapil Dev not Ranveer Singh’: How Ranveer turned himself into Kapil for the movie 83 | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The 1983 World Cup win was a huge watershed moment for Indian cricket. Tagged as underdogs, the Kapil Dev-led Indian team shut out the outside noise in style and lifted the coveted trophy at the ‘mecca of cricket’ – Lord’s.
The 1983 golden journey has been turned into a feature film and Bollywood star Ranveer Singh and all the other actors, going by all reports put in a lot of hard work to turn themselves into the members of a team which shed the tag of minnows and went on to become world champions.
Balwinder Sandhu, who claimed the first wicket in the summit clash against the mighty West Indies in the form of Gordon Greenidge for just 1, spoke to TimesofIndia.com recently about how Ranveer got into the skin of ‘captain fantastic’ Kapil for the role.

Kapil Dev and Ranveer Singh (Image credit: Ranveer Singh’s Facebook page)
“In the movie 83, you will see Kapil Dev, not Ranveer Singh. Ranveer’s work ethic was fantastic. His vision and characterisation of Kapil Dev were just amazing. He is really a hard worker. He worked for hours to get into the skin of Kapil Dev’s character. It was tough but he accepted the challenge and did the job wonderfully. He is an amazing character. He worked really hard for this role. He is full of energy and a nice person to be with,” Balwinder, who played 8 Tests and 22 ODIs for India, told TimesofIndia.com.
“Whatever he (Ranveer) was told by us, he just surrendered and accepted everything. He had more than the level of skill we were expecting from him. He worked with an open mind. That’s the best part about him,” he said.

Kapil Dev and Ranveer Singh (Image credit: Ranveer Singh’s Facebook page)
“I spent a lot of time with him. We went and stayed at Kapil Dev’s place for some weeks and discussed a lot of things. Ranveer is a keen observer. He was just observing Kapil and took many tips from him. Be it his walking style, talking, smiling, body language, bowling, batting, dressing sense, Ranveer did everything to tick all the boxes. And he did it all wonderfully.” Balwinder, who claimed two wickets in the final in 1983 – Greenidge and Faoud Bacchus, said.
Kapil and his team defeated the West Indies, the two-time World Champions, in the epic final to clinch their maiden title. After posting just 183 on the board, the Indian bowlers wrapped up the West Indies innings for 140, claiming a 43-run win and the title.
“It is a proud moment for all of us World Cup-winning players of 1983 that someone has made a movie on our achievement. We all achieved the 1983 glory as a team. And the way Kabir Khan has showcased our glory, achievement, and the hard work we had put in, is so so wonderful.” Balwinder signed off.