Exclusive! Tahir Raj Bhasin: 83 is not a film but an emotion for me

Tahir Raj Bhasin is currently seeing success thanks to his two OTT releases, Ranjish Hi Sahi and Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein. However, right before the two movies, the actor appeared in the much-awaited film of 2021, Ranveer Singh starrer 83. OTTplay spoke to the actor about the movie finally being released in theatres and getting the success it deserved in terms of acclaim.

Tahir shared, “I wasn’t alive when the 83 World Cup happened and we won, but I feel like I’ve lived through that part as a result of stories around it that have been passed on through generations, whether it was my grandparents or my parents.”

The actor shared that playing Sunil Gavaskar was a no-brainer for him. It took me five minutes to accept that part. "He shared. I knew if a film like this was going to be made, it would be once-in-a-lifetime."

Recalling how it felt while playing the legend, Tahir said, “The scale at which this was made – all of us shifted to the UK for four months, like the real team did back in the 80s. We did everything at the real locations, like playing at Lord’s Stadium. It’s every Indian boy’s dream to play cricket and to wear that India’s kit like Sunil Gavaskar and walk on to the Lord’s pitch. It’s just every boy’s dream-come-true.”

Tahir shared that he researched a lot on Gavaskar, whether in the form of reading material, watching his matches or seeing him give interviews. So what was his takeaway from the character? He says, “One of the things that I took away from the illustrious career that he had – and a lot of the younger generation might not know this – but he was an iconic sports legend way before the 1983 World Cup happened. He was the senior-most player on that team and was already an established poster-boy of cricket. What I learnt is that it is only through practice and repeated time spent that you can turn your negatives into positives. You can turn your flaws into your success points. It is something that he used on the pitch and I hope to carry that with me through my career.”

While 83 has captured many hearts as expected from the movie, it could not gather a lot of box office numbers due to the COVID-19 scare. Not completely affected by that fact, Tahir said, “For me, 83 wasn’t a film but an emotion, and I’m just so privileged to have that emotion for people to share.”

Feeling overwhelmed by the response, the young actor shared, “I’m telling you, the kind of feedback we got from the audience who were lucky enough to watch it in theatres, it’s just been overwhelming. It was the feeling that you came out of the theatre with, or the part of Sunil Gavaskar and the dynamic he had with the rest of the team.”

Tahir is also going to be a part of Looop Lapeta opposite Taapsee Pannu. The film is also slated for an OTT release on Netflix.