How Ranveer Singh transformed from Simmba to Kapil Dev in a span of a year

From losing almost 11 kilos to training in cricket, Ranveer Singh underwent a rigorous training to look like Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan’s ’83.
Ranveer Singh

TLI Staff

New Delhi:
Ranveer Singh and the ensemble cast of Kabir Khan’s ’83 trained hard to transform themselves physically and trained in cricket for an entire year to do justice to their roles for the film that is woven around India’s historic moment of winning world cup for the first time under the captaincy of Kapil Dev.

The film that kicked off in June this year with a London schedule has wrapped up a few days back. The entire team, especially Ranveer Singh put their heart and soul into the film as they slogged hard to get into the skin of their characters.

They started the preparations in August last year and that time they were far from looking their part. Rajiv Mehra, fitness consultant and assistant to Balwinder Sandhu, former cricketer who was part of the winning team of 1983 World Cup coached the film’s cast and helped them fit into their character seamlessly.

In a conversation with Mumbai Mirror, Rajiv opened up on what Ranveer Singh and other actors like Harrdy Sandhu, Saqib Saleem, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Chirag Patil, Ammy Virk, Jiva, Sahil Khatter, Jatin Sarna, Dhairya Karwa, Adinath Kothare, Nishant Dahiya, Ra Badree, Dinker Sharma had to go through to nail the role.

Rajiv said that they had to start from basics and it was like teaching kids. “The biggest challenge was to get them to think like cricketers. After that, we had to tone their bodies to look like that of sportsmen, for which we taught them sprinting techniques and gave body language training. After that came basic batting and bowling lessons,” he told the Mumbai tabloid.

Rajiv Mehra was all praises for Ranveer Singh’s dedication, who started working with them in October last year and revealed how he trained hard for almost throughout the day for four months, practicing on field in the first half, gymming and swimming in the second half.

Ranveer Singh also had a challenge to lose almost 11 kilos considering he was on a higher side weighing 86 kg posting Simmba while for ’83 he had to come down to 75 kg.

“Ranveer, with the boys would be at the ground from 8 am till noon, continuing to practice even after others had left,” he told Mumbai Mirror.

Rajiv says the film exactly looks like the 1983 World Cup and that will prove to be the USP of the film.