Kabir Khan’s 83 had everything going for it. But yet, the film has managed collections which do not befit a film of this canvas. So what exactly went wrong? Why did the film about the victory of the Indian cricket team in the 1983 World Cup not romp home victorious? Why did it fail to bowl the audiences over in very large numbers? Agreed, the film had to face a lot of hardships (like the cricket team in 1983) in the form of curfews, restrictions of show timings, limited capacity in some states, the fear factor (Omicron variant of the Coronavirus), etc., but notwithstanding these, it should have fared better than it did. Yes, Pushpa: The Rise Part 1 (dubbed) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (dubbed and English) were huge oppositions for 83, but the fact remains, both those films were in their second week while 83 was in its first week.
Almost always, a film’s success or failure can be attributed to its content. Does that mean that the content of the cricket film was not right? Well, it may have been right for one section of the audience but it was not right for all sections of the audience. While the over-35 age group, generally speaking, liked/loved/adored the film, many in the age group from 15-34 seem to have not thought much about the film. So where was the disconnect? It appears that the youngsters did not identify with the cricketing heroes of 1983. Their heroes of the sport are Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. Of course, that’s not the sole reason why they did not go ecstatic over the film. What they did not find too interesting in the film about the 1983 Cricket World Cup was that it appeared like a docu-drama to them rather than a film. They would’ve been more excited had the film dwelt on the individual off-the-field stories of the characters too rather than concentrating so heavily on the game of cricket that it started to look like a recreation of the matches played 38 years ago in England.
Does this mean that youth patronage is the most important factor for the success of a film? Yes, it is, especially when the budget is close to Rs. 200 crore! For a medium-budgeted film, overlooking the tastes of the youngsters among the audience is acceptable but when you make a film with a huge budget, you cannot afford to ignore the likes and dislikes of the audience in the age group of 15-34 because they comprise a major chunk of the paying public.
…When you make a film with a huge budget, you cannot afford to ignore the likes and dislikes of the audience in the age group of 15-34…
Agreed, there are cinemas reporting that the audience has been clapping in the scenes and applauding the effort after the film comes to an end, but many of the youngsters are not doing this. This could be a lesson for those making/planning historicals. Either they need to rethink their plans or tweak their scripts to catch the attention of the youth among the public because youngsters seem to be all about today rather than about what has transpired in the past and is now history.
…There are cinemas reporting that the audience has been clapping in the scenes and applauding the effort after the film comes to an end…
Here are the responses of some of the exhibitors to our question: Why did 83 not work well?
Uttar Pradesh exhibitor Ashutosh Agarwal (Starworld): “It is a biography of Kapil Dev, but the fact is that everyone in the world knows everything about Kapil Dev.”
West Bengal exhibitor Satadeep Saha: “The movie was made for the class audience, not for the masses. If the collection numbers are low, it is because of the distribution strategy of Reliance Entertainment.”
Delhi-U.P. exhibitor Brijesh Tandon: “The film has not been liked by youngsters and masses.”
Gorakhpur exhibitor Mohit Agarwal: “Excellent film but probably not publicised properly. Poor publicity of the film could be the only reason for it not doing well.” He adds, “My daughters, who are averse to cricket, loved the film!” Agarwal avers, “I guess, youngsters don’t know much about the 1983 World Cup. Their heroes are Virat and Dhoni. They are not aware about Kapil Dev and company. On the other hand, the older generation, which knows about Kapil Dev, is still sceptical about going to the theatres.”
Bombay exhibitor Vinay Choksey: “If you take out the matches from 83, there is no storyline. It’s sheer highlights of the 1983 World Cup, which are available everywhere on the Internet. You don’t need to watch the film for that. Also, people from today’s generation don’t identify with Kapil Dev as their heroes are Dhoni and Virat Kohli.”
C.I. exhibitor Piyush Jain (of Gayatri Cinema, Ratlam): “Because 83 is a one-sided movie for cricket lovers only. There is otherwise no entertainment in it. This type of content will no longer work.”
Bombay (Ulhasnagar) exhibitor Anil Chanchlani: “The young audiences have not come to watch the film. A similar thing happened with Chhichhore. It was appreciated, but the figures did not match the fantastic content.”