Newest addition to 83 cast, Nishant Dahiya on working with Ranveer Singh, and aping the tough mannerisms of Roger Binny
Sonia Lulla (MID-DAY; April 27, 2019)

In a previous interview with this reporter, Balvinder Singh Sandhu had heaped praise on Nishant Dahiya - the newest addition to Ranveer Singh's world cup drama, '83 - alluding that among a lot of actors who couldn't replicate the mannerisms of Roger Binny, Dahiya was a saviour.

"He did it in 15 days. I was so proud of him," Sandhu had said. As far as Dahiya is concerned, he knew the ace cricketer, currently coaching the actors for Kabir Khan's film, was impressed from the word go. "I bowled the first ball, and Ballu sir said, 'Great, you're on board'," he recalls. But, mimicking fast bowler Binny, he realised after hopping aboard the project, was no mean feat.

"I had seen his interviews, but had never seen him bowl. When I watched his clips, I knew learning this would take time. His is an odd action; one that, perhaps, came naturally to him only. When a bowler lands, his back-foot lands at 90 degrees. In Roger sir's case, it lands in the opposite direction to where you face. It was Kapil sir [Dev] who told me that his manner was different because he was a javelin thrower when he was a kid. So, his postures was different." Yet, there were umpteen factors that the former junior national-level cricket player believes, made him earn brownie points before Sandhu. "Like Roger sir, I was a fast bowler, and a swing bowler. I think he liked my pace and rhythm. He knew it was something we could work on if I had to play this character."

Among a group of artistes who have a background in cricket, leading man Ranveer Singh is perhaps the only cast member who had not played the sport, actively. Yet, Dahiya isn't willing to buy his naivety. "By the time I met him, I was bowled over by his bowling. I could see Kapil sir was impressed too. I told him he was killing it. Ranveer is as much a motivator as he is an entertainer for the team. I think he's surpassed himself."

With their five-day week practice sessions being whittled down to three days, Dahiya says the cast members are now focusing on understanding the nuances of their individual characters. A recently-concluded bonding session in Dharamshala has enabled them to emerge as a team from an assorted bunch of actors. "We met seniors like Kapil, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma, Madan Lal. We got to ask them questions, and many stories emerged from those conversations; funny ones too. As an actor, one picks up these instances [to understand] the relationship they shared, based on their jokes and conversations. You learn how complicated they were, or their pairing. So, after practice [the actors would] head to a tea stall and discuss these events. We'd play with our characters, and call each other by the roles we were playing. Today, that's how we address one another. The camp helped us a lot."