India's title triumph at the cricket World Cup in 1983 is among the most splendid underdog victories in the history of sports. In that sense, it readily it lent itself to a movie --- after all, most sports-themed films are essentially the win of the proverbial Davids.
That it took close to 35 years for someone to think of conceiving a cinema out of that epoch-making victory is the real surprise.
And, as it happened, 83, the film on India's pioneering performance that changed the face of world cricket in many ways, took its time to reach the theatres even after getting getting fully ready. And that was because of pandemic.
The film, directed by Kabir Khan, and headlined by Ranveer Singh (playing the charismatic and talismanic captain Kapil Dev), managed to hit the cinema halls only in the last week of December 2021.
And despite the film receiving positive response from many, it did not make the kind of money that it was expected to.
Anyway, ever since the film released in the theatres, the follow up question was: When will it release on OTT platforms?
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It makes sense to release 83 in two platforms
Though there is no official word on the exact date of the film's streaming date --- it might release either on February 18 or February 25 --- it is now confirmed that it would be available on two different platforms. Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar, to be precise.
So why this strange choices? Well, it is not exactly a new approach. The film Thalaivi was released on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The thing is Thalaivi, on the life and times of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in Tamil got released on Netflix, while Thalaivi in a couple of other languages was available on Amazon Prime Video.
It is the same route that 83 is also taking. The Hindi one goes to Netflix, and its other language versions will stream on Disney+ Hotstar.
The one difference between Thalaivi and 83 is that Thalaivi's original (Tamil) released late on Netflix while the other language ones began to stream a week ahead. But all the versions of 83 is expected to stream on the same date. An official word should make things clear though.
Also it makes sense in the case of 83 to make it stream on two different platforms, as the makers did hard-sell the film in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam markets as that particular language offering during its theatrical release.
The film also has, among others, Deepika Padukone, Jiiva, Pankaj Tripathi, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Saqib Saleem, Harrdy Sandhu in the cast.
The film is produced by Deepika Padukone, Kabir Khan, Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Sajid Nadiadwala, Sheetal Vinod Talwar, Reliance Entertainment, and 83 Film Ltd.
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