Saptaparna Biswas (BOMBAY TIMES; January 19, 2020)

Back in 2016, Varun Badola made a small appearance as Kapil Dev in the Emraan Hashmi-starrer Azhar. A self-confessed cricket fan, Varun says he is now looking forward to ‘83, which will feature Ranveer Singh as the cricketer.

Though Varun maintains that he may not have been convincing in his look, he is sure that no other actor can nail Kapil Dev’s famous bowling action like he does. “I have had the same bowling action since childhood. In fact, in a friendly match in Mumbai, S Sreesanth pointed it out and said that my action is exactly like that of Kapil paaji,” says the Mere Dad Ki Dulhan actor, adding, “For Azhar, the makers called me a couple of days prior to the shoot so I didn’t have any time to prepare. But, no matter how good or bad I looked on screen, I knew one thing for sure that even at four in the morning if anyone told me to bowl like Kapil Dev, I would get his bowling action right.”

Ask him about Ranveer’s look in Kabir Khan’s ‘83 and Varun smiles, “He’s done a fabulous job with the look! I’m yet to see how he gets the mannerisms on screen, but one thing I can bet for sure — he can’t get Kapil paaji’s bowling action as perfectly as I can!”

Varun also shares that he is in touch with most members of the 1983 World Cup winning team. “I am personally in touch with most of the team. Jimmy paaji (Mohinder Amarnath), Ballu paaji (Balwinder Singh Sandhu) and Sandeep paaji (Sandeep Patil) are good friends and I have even played with Kapil paaji.”

The actor, a huge Kapil Dev fan, says that there can never be another cricketer like Kapil Dev. “For the longest time, everyone has tried to get into Kapil paaji’s shoes, but no one knows what size shoes he wears! Kapil paaji can win any game he plays. A sports club in Delhi had put up a billiards table. Kapil paaji ne waha 100 ke break maarne shuru kar diye. Toh baaki logon ne khelna band kar diya soch ke ki ye aadmi table pakdega toh chodega nahi. I played a tennis ball cricket tournament with him in Goa. He was 54 then and even at that age he ran and caught a flat catch! Kandha toh gaya, but what was commendable was that he was so agile at that age. He was born to be an athlete,” says Varun.