Kapil Dev’s 1983 Cricket World Cup win gets a Bollywood biopic

New Delhi: The trend of biopic on sportspersons in Bollywood will continue as cricket legend Kapil Dev will have a film on his life with the latest news of Kabir Khan directing a biopic on the legendary cricketer. And an actor no less than Ranveer Singh will play the lead role.

Kapil is fondly remembered as India’s finest all-rounder and arguably the greatest cricketer the country has produced. He was also named the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century at the turn of the millennium.

The film will chronicle India's 1983 Cricket World Cup win under Dev's captainship, when the Men in Blue defeated West Indies in the final to clinch their first-ever World Cup trophy. The movie will reportedly be backed by Phantom films, co-owned by filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena.

With what is being touted as the "biggest sports film", Kabir is venturing into fairly new genre, whose credits include political-drama-thrillers like "New York", "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", the most recent "Tubelight", among others.

Apart from this, the filmmaker is also set to helm a web series based on freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army for Amazon Prime Video. Ranveer, meanwhile, is gearing up for the release of his next, "Padmavati". (With PTI inputs)