Move aside M S Dhoni. To the back of the class, Mohammed Azharuddin. The next cricketing superstar on whom Bollywood has chosen to make a biopic is the old Haryana Hurricane – Paaji Kapil Dev! And the actor on whose shoulders this monumental task has fallen, is Padmavati baddie Ranveer Singh.
Kabir Khan, after the fiasco of Tubelight with Salman Khan in July, could not have picked a safer subject. Bollywood and cricket drive the nation. Together, they make a heady combination. And if the film is on an iconic all-rounder like Kapil Dev, plus it’s got his World Cup 1983 victory as the story, then Bollywood is looking at a surefire box office hit.
No actor can just step into Kapil Dev’s shoes. Peeping Moon.com sources reveal that Ranveer will require extensive prosthetics to resemble the great cricketer on 70 mm. Close-ups, on-field shots and VFX visuals will be used for the World Cup scenes.
Some clever makeup will be done on the actor’s jaw because Kapil Dev has one of those jutting aggressive jaws that won’t be easy to replicate. Skin tone will be used to darken his skin. But the big challenge for the makeup team will be getting Kapil Dev’s wide, dimpled smile showing his perfect set of teeth right. Ranveer Singh has a wicked trademark grin of his own. He might require dentures to capture the Kapil Dev’s winning smile.
It is said that the former cricketing great’s wife, Romi Bhatia, will assist Ranveer Singh in preparing for his role. She will give the actor an insight into the private Kapil Dev so that Ranveer Singh may get the former’s mannerisms and emotions correct. While Kapil Dev himself will overlook Ranveer Singh’s cricket training and hone the actor’s bowling and batting skills and diet to help him get that lean, athletic look that he himself had in 1983 when India beat West Indies at Lord’s to win its first World Cup. Kabir Khan is seeking permission from sports channels to use real-time footage of the big win. Photojournalists who were there are also being contacted for their black-and-white pictures.
The biopic will roll out in 2018. Bollywood gossips are wondering whether Kabir Khan will touch upon the alleged dalliance Kapil Dev had with actress Sarika before marriage to Romi in 1980. And also the infamous match-fixing controversy in which the legendary player was embroiled in 1999 that caused him to break down in tears on Karan Thapar’s Hardtalk India chat show on BBC. An inquiry was set up by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Income Tax officials. In 2000, Kapil Dev was exonerated of all charges of betting and match-fixing. Kapil Dev fans are already hoping the film will be an honest portrayal of his life unlike MS Dhoni: The Untold Story which was criticised for showing a safe and guarded side of the former Indian cricket captain who also won the World Cup for India in 2011.
