The United Celebration of India

 

The United Celebration of India

Add Bollywood and Cricket, and you and a super success formula, yet only on two occasions, the formula has reached exceptional excitement levels 

( Also published in movietalkies.com )

 

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The two big forces that have the potential to connect people across the length and breadth of India and also connect Indians across the globe are Bollywood and Cricket. So, when the two together get connected, it’s no surprise that the excitement reaches a new dimension. Be in Anju Mahendroo/Gary Sobers or Sharmila Tagore/Pataudi or Kohli/Anushka, eyeballs in all generations have been spinning stories. But these have been personal events. On the business front, Bollywood and Cricket have come together on many occasions - All Rounder (1984), Awwal Number (1990), Iqbal (2005) and many more - but the kind of excitement that ’83 has created has only been matched by Lagaan. So, what differentiates these two films ? Before this, a brief look at the evolution of cricket’s popularity in India.

 

Till around 1970, we felt happy if the team was able to draw a match. Losing was then the norm and winning was once in a blue moon event. Interest in cricket was limited to a select few. 

 

Two important events happened in 1970s. Firstly, Indian series victories in West Indies and England ; secondly the increased focus on Hindi commentary. The former increased the excitement level and the latter number of followers. Paan wallas would now use the radio commentary to increase the crowd on their shops and in the process they further increased the excitement around cricket. On the field, with under Sunil Gavaskar’s stewardship, India had acquired the ability to convert its regular defeat into a draw. Winning, however, still remained a rare event.

 

1980s added three new feathers to cricket’s cap of popularity. India became world cricket champions (1983  World Cup & 1985 Benson & Hedges Cup),  live colour telecast commenced across Indian cities and thirdly India hosted the world cup (1987). 

 

As a result, the game that once belonged to metro cities and to intellectuals had by 1980s moved to masses across all urban localities of India. But at this time, many would enjoy cricket at their neighbour’s place or on community television. It was during the Sourav Ganguly era (part-1990s and part-2000s)  that the entire middle class had started enjoying cricket in the privacy of their own homes. And then thanks to cheaper television sets, growth in cable TV and Hindi/Tamil etc text on TV, in Dhoni’s era live cricket started reaching deep into the homes of low income group

 

With regard to performance on the field, under Kapil Dev, draw ceased to be team’s normal expectation. Kapil Dev showed India could win. In Ganguly’s captaincy India learned to play with a winning mindset. And MS Dhoni made winning a habit 

 

 

Amidst this increasing engagement owing to improved on ground performance, cricket in India saw a transformation – a transformation catalysed by IPL.  What was till now a pure sport got morphed into a celebration. The difference between a sport and a celebration is that the public engagement in sport remains a function of the outcome. Victory increases engagement levels and defeat vice versa. But when the same sport becomes a celebration, engagement ceases to be a function of the outcome. IPL winners keep changing every year but engagement levels have never come down. Today IPL is about two months of a united celebration of India – a celebration that is independent of caste, religion, language or region. And it is this phenomenon of united celebration that brings us to our main story of the excitement around two films on cricket – Lagaan and ’83. 

 

During the last century, the biggest united celebration of India was freedom from British. Freedom movement was the first occasion in the history of India that had united Indians across religion, caste, language, region etc. and therefore it saw a widespread celebration. After independence, the only other big Indian event that had experienced such a wide a celebration was the 1983 victory.  Lagaan provided a platform to revisit celebration of the former and ’83 of the latter. And the connecting power of Bollywood made it a united celebration of India. 

 

Had the two films been just about cricket, the excitement would have been far lower. It is this united celebration of India that has taken the public interest in the two films to a different level. Through release in multiple languages, ’83 has only upped the ante of united celebration.

 

With world cup, IPL and others, Cricket as a game has been celebrating during 2021. One  hopes ’83 brings celebration to Bollywood too…… in the true spirit of the united celebration of India.

 

-       Deepesh Salgia