83 trailer: Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev leads underdog Indian team to victory, fans get ‘goosebumps and tears’

The trailer for Kabir Khan’s sports drama 83, starring Ranveer Singh as former cricketer Kapil Dev, has dropped online.

The film follows how the Indian cricket team, ‘a team that no one believed in’, went from being the underdogs to winning their first-ever World Cup in 1983 by beating the reigning champions, West Indies.

The video begins with the Indian team faltering on the field. Ranveer as Kapil declares at the press conference that they are ‘here to win’, inviting sniggers from the handful of reporters who attended the event.

Pankaj Tripathi, who plays the then-manager of the team PR Man Singh, tells Kapil, “35 saal pehle hum log aazaadi jeete, magar izzat jeetna baaki hai, kaptaan (We won independence 35 years ago but we are yet to win respect, captain).”

In the second half of the trailer, the Indian team makes a stunning comeback, with Kapil hitting one six after another, smashing dressing room windows, glasses and windscreens of cars. Deepika Padukone, who plays his wife Romi Dev, supports him off the field.

While the 83 trailer is high on emotion, it also has its lighter moments. Harrdy Sandhu as Madan Lal, Ammy Virk as Balvinder Singh Sandhu, Saqib Saleem as Mohinder Amarnath and others also feature in the nearly four-minute video.

Fans had an emotional reaction to the 83 trailer. “Literally had tears in my eyes after watching this trailer… Can’t imagine how special this 1983 World Cup would have meant for them,” one wrote in the comments section on YouTube. “Goosebumps and tears, I am sure no one would able to hold their tears while seeing this trailer and the movie for sure,” another said.

Many also praised Ranveer. “What an amazing performance by everyone. Specially Ranveer! Hats off!!!” one wrote. “Ranveer Singh, you’re the best actor of India. This trailer gave me goosebumps and you’ve performed so good in it. All the best, this film is going to break records,” another commented.

83 will be out in theatres on December 24 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Kamal Haasan’s Raajkamal Films International and Nagarjuna Akkineni’s Annapurna Studios are joining hands with Reliance Entertainment to present the Tamil and Telugu versions, respectively. Prithviraj’s production and Kichcha Sudeepa’s Shalini Arts are set to present the film in Malayalam and Kannada versions.