The TV screen in the bus showed Kamal Haasan riding on a bike, doing stupid stunts. Cheeka, Yash and Kirti, the latter with a bottle of beer in his hand, were lazing on their seats and watching.
"Hey, that's my favourite movie!" said Cheeka.
"Why else do you think they included it?" asked Roger and Kapil in unison. Well, Roger asked in English and Kapil in Hindi, but the essence was the same.
"Ek baat bolu kaptaan...tum pehla aadmi ho jo bole we will win, jeetna hai...wo press conference me journalist tha...daye daye goliya daale tumhare pe...tum ek ich baat bole...we will win, we will win..." said a tipsy Man bhai.
"The details are starting to worry me," said Jimmy. "Especially those regarding the bus journeys."
"What do you mean by that, Jimmy sir?" asked Saqib, leaning forward eagerly; quite clearly, he'd been listening in.
"Er—nothing of note," said Jimmy painfully.
"No, you have to tell me, sir—"
"Let him watch the movie in peace and bug him later, Saqib," said Hardy, logically.
Too logically.
"He's right, you know," Jimmy said, grinning.
Saqib subsided.
"Speech sab kuchh nahi aati mujhe!" said Kapil, beginning to panic.
"Suno sab loga...team meeting..." declared Man bhai.
"Saath seniors hai mere, what I can say?" asked a desperate Kapil.
Jimmy held back a laugh and slung an arm around Kaps.
"Gentlemen...kaptaan..."
The TV screen in the background went, 'I don't know what you say...I don't know what you say...'
"Tomorrow match...very important," began Kapil.
Kirti caught an imaginary ball in the background.
Kapil looked at Jimmy, who nodded encouragingly.
Then it was Kapil's turn to give Jim pa a hug.
"How'd they know this?" asked Kapil. "Did you tell them?"
"No," butted in Saqib eagerly. "Kabir sir built it on Jimmy sir's general niceness."
"He does deserve a pat on the back," said Kapil.
"Cheeka—"
Cheeka looked up quickly.
"—you hit."
Cheeka nodded seriously.
"Dilip—you strong," went on Kapil. "Kirti, you focus, your problem there."
Kirti, who'd been grinning wickedly, forced himself to look serious.
"Sandy, tu tagda hoke maar...Yash, you're a sher."
Yash looked on incomprehensively as Ravi choked on beer and Man bhai frowned.
The front row of the theatre was, of course, in splits—everyone except the captain, who was, however, making an active effort not to crack a grin.
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First Screening of 83 ft. Class of '83
FanfictionKapil Dev was firm on the fact that the whole team watches 83 for the first time together. The story of how the Class of '83 reacted to 83's special screening in Delhi...
