Addinath Kothare to play Dilip Vengsarkar in Kabir Khan's '83

Addinath M. Kothare

Addinath M. Kothare has been roped in to portray the character of Dilip Vengsarkar in the upcoming movie '83 directed by Kabir Khan. The actor has already joined the training sessions being conducted by Balvinder Singh Sandhu, to play the character of ace batsman Dilip Vengsarkar, who couldn't play the finals following an injury on the field while facing a bouncer by Malcolm Marshall.

Marathi actor Addinath M. Kothare said, "It happened in July last year. I had returned from the shoot of Paani, my debut film as a director in Marathi, in which I was also the hero. Luckily, my look for that film required me to sport a moustache. I got a call to audition for an ad film, which I didn't get, but the same agency called me again, the very next day, to audition for 83. I think it was because of my moustache that they thought I could pass off as Dilip Vengsarkar of yore.

The audition was very strange: They asked me to imitate Dilip sir and the reference video was of the press conference for the announcement of the film. He was talking to the press and I had 15 minutes to prepare and match his body language. I gave it a shot, and they seemed to like it. I was jumping with joy; it was like a moment of victory for me because I had landed a role in a Kabir Khan film. Also, I was getting an opportunity to emulate moments and a person who is etched deeply in the minds of cricket lovers in India."

The movie, '83 has already been creating a lot of buzz ever since the announcement of its making as it is based on one of the most historic events related to Indian cricket.

Tracing the historic victory of 1983 world cup, Kabir Khan's upcoming directorial will star Ranveer Singh as the former captain of the Indian Cricket Team Kapil Dev. The film '83 would be Ranveer Singh's first trilingual film to be made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Earlier, the makers hosted an event to announce the film along with the entire former team that lifted the world cup in 83.

Shouldered by the then captain Kapil Dev, who led the Indian cricket team to it's maiden World Cup win, 1983's World Cup stays to be one of the most etched events in the minds of the cricket fans.

While Ranveer Singh will play the lead, the film is already backed by a powerful support cast as Men in Blue which includes Ammy Virk as Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Saahil Khattar as Syed Kirmani, Jiiva as Krishnamachari Srikanth and Pankaj Tripathi as manager PR Man Singh, Tahir Bhasin, Saqib Saleem, Harrdy Sandhu and R Badree are the recent additions to it.

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