Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; January 10, 2020)

For Saqib Saleem, 2019 was a rather busy year. He had been shooting for Kabir Khan’s ’83, where he portrayed the character of former Indian cricketer, Mohinder Amarnath. And so, he decided to take a trip to Amsterdam to “clear his mind” and start 2019 on a fresh note. “I had my friends taking a trip to Europe. But, as I was shooting till December 30, I decided to travel on January 1 and begin the year with a bang. I was in Amsterdam for five days and it was an amazing trip. I really needed this break,” he says.

The Race 3 (2018) actor adds, “Travelling makes me happy. It was important for me to go out there and have some fun. I worked throughout last year and I needed some time off. I have never been to Amsterdam, or Europe for that matter. It helped me start focussing on what I wanted to do next.”

So, what did he do while in the Dutch capital? “While in Amsterdam, I did the usual touristy things. I went to the Rembrandt Square, Dam Square, Van Gogh Museum and Moco Musuem. I used to wake up in the morning, get out of the house, pick up some coffee and keep walking with my jackets, mufflers and cap. It was very cold there,” the 31-year-old shares.

For Saqib, it’s important to take breaks to detach from a character and switch to a new one. He explains, “Once you travel, it opens up your mind as you meet different people and get to know about different cultures and settings in the world. It’s important to take breaks and travel between your work. Once your mind opens up, you can look at characters with a different perspective.”

The young actor explains that ’83 was a rather emotional exercise. “Every character that I play does something to me. When I played Jimmy Amarnath, it made me calmer as a human being because Jimmy sir is very calm. If one had to get him right, they had to inculcate a Zen like attitude and bring forth a sense of resilience. It was difficult to play a character who’s so calm because I’m normally very hyper. I had to start meditation just to calm myself down,” the Bombay Talkies (2013) actor says.

Kabir Khan is ebullient as he wraps up a three-month shoot for his Ranveer Singh-starrer in London, bang on schedule
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 2, 2019)

On Sunday, Kabir Khan wrapped up a three-month schedule of his sports drama, ’83, in London, which features Ranveer Singh as then-skipper Kapil Dev who led Team India to its first cricket World Cup win in 1983. For the director and the team, it was an emotional moment as they had become close, like a family, during the shoot, and felt a sense of triumph after wrap-up, quite like the historic win. “It was like we had won the World Cup too,” Kabir laughs. “I knew ’83 was an ambitious film and we have achieved more than what we had planned.”

The director, who is also producing the film with Sajid Nadiadwala, Madhu Mantena, Shibasish Sarkar and Vishnu Induri, goes on to add that since logistically it was a difficult shoot, he airdashed to London every month for a year to work with the local production crew to get the required permissions. “Securing permissions to film at some places, like inside Lord’s cricket ground, was not easy. This is the first unit that has ventured into the players’ locker room and the long room there,” he points out, saying since they were recreating a real event, there was a lot of detailing involved in terms of locations and replications. “We had to make half of London look like it did in ’83. Shooting at Lord’s on the last day was magical.”

The film kicked off in London on June 5 and a major chunk of the shoot coincided with the 2019 World Cup. While many matches were interrupted by rain, Kabir’s screen journey was hassle-free. “We have been blessed by the Gods of cricket. We got so much goodwill from legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Jimmy Amarnath, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Clive Lloyd that even the rain god helped us out,” Kabir exults. “When we were shooting interiors, it would rain the entire day, but the minute we stepped out, it would stop. It’s rare and next to impossible for anybody to complete a big shoot in the UK on time. On paper, we were to end on September 1, and we are done,” he signs off on an ebullient note.