Abrid Shine bowls the audience over with ‘1983’

By Mythily Ramachandran

In India, cricket is followed with a fervor unlike any other sport. 
This zeal is well reflected in the sports film, ‘1983’ directed by newcomer Abrid Shine. And on opening his innings, Shine clearly hits a sixer as ‘1983’ endears itself to the audience with a simple story told honestly. 
An erstwhile photographer for Malayalam magazine, ‘Vanitha,’ Shine   was inspired from his life and that of his friends, all amateur cricketers like the hero of ‘1983’ Ramesan.
Ramesan (Nivin Pauly) whose love for the game is rooted in the 1983 win of India at the World Cup, is a talented player and never misses out on a game with friends of the local club. His father, (Joy Mathews), who runs a machine repairing unit, dreams of the day when his son would become an engineer. 
With cricket dominating Ramesan’s life, studies obviously takes a back-seat and Ramesan manages to clear his class ten board examinations. Now he is left with no other choice but to help his father in the business. 
This is clearly a landmark film in Nivin Pauly’s career, who goes through different stages of Ramesan’s life: from a school student in love with his classmate Manjula (Niki Galrani) and a crazy cricketer to becoming a father who tries to realize his dreams through his son. As the scenes roll on, Pauly hits a four each time with a spectacular performance. 
Shine’s narration is brilliant. Capturing street cricket in real mode with players attired in mundu, Kerala style, this story immediately connects with his audience.
Clean humour keeps you chuckling now and then. I just loved the scene where Ramesan is dumbfounded when his new bride (essayed excellently by Shrinda Ashab) looks up at Sachin’s poster in the bedroom and in all innocence asks him, “Who is this? And seeing his astonished look, she immediately tells him, “Oh, I don’t watch Hindi films.” That was classic. Shrinda impresses in other scenes too. 
Another remarkable performance is from Jacob Gregory. Calling himself Sachin from Bombay and often peppering his conversations with Hindi, he joins in as a substitute in Ramesan’s team. And, Gregory keeps the audience in splits. Anoop Menon in the role of a coach encouraging Ramesan’s son is a natural.
With a story pegged around cricket, Shine brings about a change in the heart of Ramesan’s father, who lends a hand to Ramesan, who is trying to make a mechanized automatic bowling device for his little son, a cricket lover too.
Besides taking a dig at the present crop of parents, who are ambitious for their off-springs, Shine also points out the flaws in the selection procedure of the sports department. 
Produced by Shamsudheen, '1983' is enriched further by Gopi Sundar’s captivating music and Pradeesh Varma’s dazzling frames.