Ranveer has to retain his identity while playing Kapil Dev opines Kabir Khan

Kabir Khan, who is busy with his upcoming directorial venture ‘83,’ which is based on India's first Cricket World Cup win at Lord’s in 1983, says his main challenge is to let Ranveer Singh adapt the persona of Kapil Dev, the captain of the 1983 winning team, yet retain his identity. 

India was not given any chance against the mighty West Indies whom they eventually beat by 43 runs in the final played at Lord's on June 25, 1983, to lift their maiden World Cup.

"Audience knows he is Ranveer and he is going to play the role of Kapil Dev in the film. Today, there is technology to make Ranveer look exactly like him, but that is not the attempt. 

"He needs to get the persona of Dev and yet retain his identity as Ranveer. We want the audience to see and enjoy Ranveer playing Dev," Kabir told PTI in an interview. 

"It is a simple brief to Ranveer. He just has to see Kapil Dev playing the game. The iconic body language of Kapil Dev, the way he used to bowl, bat. He (Dev) is monitoring it (training)," he added. 

Kabir added that the members of the 1983 World Cup team such as Roger Binny, K Srikkanth, Madan Lal, Yashpal Sharma, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, and Sandeep Patil had narrated some anecdotes dating back to the historic day. 

Kabir added he would not need to take "cinematic liberties" during the filming as "there is a lot of material, we have hours and hours of sessions with the cricketers (the players), so, it is a goldmine of material." 

(With PTI inputs)