'83' makers to stick to screening schedule till eight weeks are over

Mumbai: The makers of the cricket drama '83', whose screening schedule got derailed by the Covid-19 surge, are committed not to take the OTT route before it completes eight weeks of its theatrical release. The Kabir Khan film led by Ranveer Singh, which retraces the path to India`s historic World Cup win at Lord`s on June 25, 1983, was released worldwide on December 24.

It is now an international practice for a film that has been theatrically released not to be offered to an OTT platform or a pay-per-view channel until eight weeks elapsed since its first screening.

The makers of '83', sources close to them said, have chosen not to deviate from this practice, despite the Covid-19 third wave leading to a shutdown of cinemas and multiplexes in Delhi and in five districts in Haryana, and a 50 per cent occupancy cap in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

In an earlier interview with IANS, the film's director, Kabir Khan, had said: "I can't control a film's fate at the box-office. What I can do is to put in as much honest effort in my work as I can."

The resurgence of the pandemic may have stymied '83' commercially, although it is still running in theatres across the country, but Kabir Khan can take solace from the fact that film critics across the world have been unanimous in their praise for the film. As The Guardian, reflecting the consensus view of critics, put it: "It is an endearing sports film with just enough awareness of where it stands, now that Britain`s imperial legacy is being questioned more than ever, on a larger field."

With a 100 per cent rating on the film review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, the makers of '83' can happily look forward to a second innings, after eight weeks of the film`s theatrical run, on OTT and pay-per-view platflorms.