User Reviews

1983, has captured the euphoria of cricket so efficiently and effectively. It is indeed a great treat to the country that eats, drinks, breaths and sleeps cricket. The beginning note of the movie itself is power packed with the 1983 Cricket World Cup victory in the backdrop, jubilation in a remote village Brahmamangalam in Kerala, supported with great musical score in the background. Rameshan, a 10 year old boy, remained glued to the television to watch the match and the victory sparked a new passion within him for the sport. There is a beautiful scene where this boy while playing cricket along with his friends falls in the field and for the first time he notices the dew drop, its freshness and beauty. It shows how the sport and the cricket ground became the entire universe for Rameshan who started living cricket. The grown up Rameshan is played by Nivin Pauly, another great performance by him. He grew to be a great batsman who gave mesmerizing shots at the local club matches along with Pappan (Saiju Kurup), Babukuttan (Sanju), Saji (Dinesh), Prahladan (Neeraj Madhav), Mantle Johny (Kalavbhavan Prajod), Varkey, Chandru, Basheer forming the rest of the gang. Rameshan's whole focus was to practice and play matches; academics and even his love interest Manjula (played by Nikki Galrani, who looked very fresh on screen) took a back seat. Meanwhile the passage of the decades is smoothly shown through visuals of India's defeat at the world cup matches, which followed thereafter, movie poster of Chitram… Harikrishnans…on the walls, b/w television sets to colour television sets and the historical 2011 Cricket World cup victory. A bit of drag was felt towards the end of the first half, since it seemed like the movie is shifting its focus from the main frame of sport into domestic things. It was painful to see a great player Rameshan settling down to his disillusioned father Gopi's (Joy Mathew) mechanical shop, but then also, it was delight to watch him hitting brilliant sixers during local club matches. Srinda Ashab essayed the role of his on screen wife Susheela very naturally, innocently and certain scenes of hers were full of humour. The pace again picked up in the second half where Rameshan sees the fire in his son Kannan. There starts the journey of the father Rameshan in living his passion and I must say Nivin Pauly excelled even as a forty year old man. Vijay Menon (Anoop Menon) as a cricket coach is very impressive, who is sharp to understand the talents of the young boys, disciplined and empathetic. Rest of the movie is woven around how Rameshan chases his dreams through his son. Certain father-son moments actually gave a lump in my throat. Jacob Gregory as Sachin's namesake, though in a short frame in a cameo, creates an impact through his performance. All other supporting cast and child artists have also given great performances. Fashion Photographer turned director Abrid Shine actually shines through his debut film. A great work by him. He is flawless as a story teller with his minute detailing. Screenplay by Abrid and Bibin Chandran has elements of humour, sadness, disappointment, hope, passion, dreams, innocence, expectations, joy etc. The movie seems to be a dedication to the living legend Mr. Sachin Tendulkar whose emotional good bye speech had a message (his father's advice to him), which was – "Chase your dreams but make sure you don't find short cuts". Indeed, a beautiful message… Cinematographer Pradeesh Verma has captured the beauty of the village very nicely. Yes, it indeed seems to be part of God's own country. Editing by Manoj is also very sharp and appropriate. Gopi Sundar has done amazing music. The song "Olanajali kuruvi..." sung by P Jayachandran and Vani Jairam is so melodious. Background music is also full of life. "Thallvettam Kanumba…" is also full of positive energy.

I was skeptical about watching this movie because I am not an avid fan of cricket. I had my doubts if I will be able to enjoy it as much as my fellow Indians who lived and breathed cricket and worshiped Sachin as God. (ps I am not kidding I legit saw a billboard saying "Sachin is god" in India) My doubts were proved unnecessary as the theme of the movie was not cricket. Cricket was only a small aspect of the movie along with the wonderful exploration of freedom, failure, chasing dreams, unrequited love and most importantly the beautiful and honest relationship between a father and son.

Following the life of Rameshan from SSLC to fatherhood, we see him playing cricket and chasing his dreams despite protests from both his parents and society. His father had high hopes of Rameshan becoming an engineer but all hopes are soon lost when he gets third class in SSLC.

I could personally relate to Rameshan's failure and Nivin Pauly did justice to portraying the characters inner dilemma of disappointing his family and all they stood for. Hope for Rameshan is not lost as he follows his passion throughout his life and fulfills his dreams through his son who at the end of the film gets selected to qualify in national level. The father-son dynamic contained an originality that films often tend to lack. The relationship felt real and the connection and interaction between Nivin Pauly and the little boy was very realistic that I thought often they were father and son in real life.

Spoilers may be alert!!!!!I have to say though my favorite part did not include the father and son. It was the first night of Nivin and his newly wedded wife and when she saw Sachin Tendulkar's poster, she asked Nivin who the man in the poster was. I could not help myself and laughed out so hard. It further made me laugh when the wife told an old woman does she know who the man on the TV was and she should know as he is India's top cricketer called" Sachin Tendulkar". The granny told her not to take her for stupid and who in the world doesn't know Sachin Tendulkar. The wife's stupidity was amusing and a scene were Nivin asked her to explain what a square root is to their son, she said she learned it for SSLC but can't remember now; that was by far the most amusing part of the movie.

Overall the movie was a light hearted watch and I enjoyed it immensely.

The movie begins with the iconic speech of retirement by the greatest Indian cricketer Sachin, although you know its the story of a cricket you surely starts expecting a good sporty entertainer and the movie never falls short of that. movie unfolds the story of a cricket frenzy guy from rural Kerala who like many Indian youngsters has their leisure time spent on cricket with group of local guys. the talents of whom never comes out of the rural circles. the movie reminds of the small cricket tournaments guys plays in weekends . meanwhile the Nivin Paulys's character is supported by his cricket team friends who similar to him has failed to make it big in their lives. movie unfolds the story with important events in Indian cricket . Nivin Pauly's performance is excellent and the supporting artists also justified their part with ease. the movie has a bunch of next generation artists whose performances shows that Malayalam movie industry has lot of talented character artists in store for future.the movie is captivating and never goes below par, the screenplay is also up to the mark.the perfection in the cricket scenes shows that the director had good done good home work before getting in to the movie. the characters looks, costumes and location also has been well improvised. actor Anoop Menon also plays his part with ease.the movie is just like a true story of a generation of cricket lovers and backyard cricketers whose talents never reached the top 11. the story spans the journey of Indian cricket from major city guys to lads of small towns. its just nostalgic for the generation and almost everyone who had played cricket in their backyard would love to revisit the movie. and for non lovers of cricket its the tale of living your passion throughout your life.... you can still enjoy the love life of Nivin Paulys' character and the final thing is it entertaining....yes it is....and everyone in India knows who's Sachin.