Ace Bollywood director Kabir Khan, the man behind hit movies like Ek Tha Tiger and Bajrangi Baijaan, has been confirmed as the director for the movie to be made based on the Indian cricket team’s memorable 1983 World Cup triumph. The movie which will be produced by Anurag Kashyap’s Phantom Films was originally set to be directed by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, who is also the scriptwriter of the movie, but it has now been revealed that Kabir Khan will be the man at the helm of affairs.
It is the season of cricket biopics as far as Bollywood is concerned with the movie based on the career of former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin kicking off a trend in the Hindi film industry. While the movie titled 'Azhar' failed to make a mark at the box office, upcoming biopics of MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar, two cricketers with a huge fan-following in the cricket-mad country, are expected to create big ripples in the movie market.
The movie based on the 1983 World Cup win has a huge backing already with the members of the triumphant squad, including skipper Kapil Dev, expressing their delight at the time the plans of a film being based on the tournament, which saw India upset two-time reigning World champions West Indies in the final despite scoring a modest total of 183 batting first, was revealed.
“The journey of the 1983 team is a story of inspiration which proves that one can achieve anything if they aim for it and work for it no matter what the world thinks," Kapil had said at the time. With a director of Kabir Khan’s pedigree now on board, cricket fans in the country will be eagerly looking forward to the movie which is expected to hit the floors in March 2017 or even earlier depending on when Kabir completes his ongoing directorial venture – the Salman Khan-starrer Tubelight.
“It goes on the floors later this year, as soon as Kabir wraps up the in-progress Tubelight with Salman Khan. A-list actors who play the cricketing heroes are in the process of being finalised. Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Mohinder Amarnath, Kirti Azad, Krishmachari Srikkanth, Syed Kirmani, Yashpal Sharma, Balwinder Sandhu and even Sunil Gavaskar who had to skip the earlier meet because it was his 67th birthday, will be on board as mentors to the actors," Mumbai Mirror reported on Wednesday.
One leading actor who could play a part in the movie is Arjun Kapoor, who is expected to portray the lead role of Kapil Dev.
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