MUMBAI: Be it the reactions to the poster or the countless memes made by their fans, it is safe to say that actor Sahil Khattar is the best man to have played wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani in Kabir Khan’s 83. His look, his gait and to an extent even his personality and style of playing the game has been closely observed and skilfully emulated by Sahil. Well, not only us, but Syed, himself, seems to be convinced, that no one could have played him better than the popular YouTuber. “Sahil resembles me the most out of all the actors. Many of my friends, family and fans have given me this feedback. They say, ‘This is definitely Kiri Bhai’. The light moustache and the bald pallet remind them of me,” he says.

In fact, he had a very good experience when he met Sahil for the first time as well. “Sahil looks very convincing as cricketer Syed Kirmani and he is also very humble. When I met him, with humility, he said, ‘I cannot even be even close to you but it is an honour to play you on-screen.’ It was wonderful to interact with Sahil. I showed him my wicket keeping style and how I move around and my mannerisms. It is difficult to copy someone. My style is unique, I have never copied anyone else. It was all my natural ability and style. During those days, we didn’t have any videos to see how a particular player played a match from different countries, so we had to watch it live and remember. I heard good things about Sahil as well as the complete set of actors from Sunil Gavaskar who was present at one of the practise sessions. 

 Syed set quite a fashion statement with his bald look in those days as well. Talking about the same, he says, “Everyone appreciated me and told me that I have a round head. In 1981, I went bald and I was compared to Yul Brynner, the Hollywood bald superstar and also with Telly Savalas, who did a movie named Kojak. I remember one incident, I was gardening and three students noticed me and asked me if I am Syed Kirmani and the next day all three turned up bald which made me realise the impact of my bald look. Rakesh Roshan, who used to wear a wig in films, threw his wig away on realising that being bald was in vogue. Even the president of Indonesia chose to go bald seeing my look. At one point of time, I had grown my hair and it wasn’t appreciated by my fans and so I went back to my original look.” 

 Ask him what are his expectations from the film, and he says, “Everyone, including me, my fans and movie lovers who also love cricket and have grown up watching our matches, are looking forward to the film. We have a WhatsApp group of the original cricket players of 83 and Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who is the coach, keeps us updated with pictures. The team of 83 has played on many the grounds, where we played, including the Lords in London. Many of the places where the team played are the places where we played in the original world cup. I have a gut feeling that the film will connect with the audiences and we, the players, will surely feel nostalgic on seeing the film. The world cup of 83 would be revived in everyone's minds. I am happy that a film like this has been made.”