Class of 83 Review: A Less Impactful and a More Mediocre Crime-Drama!

In his OTT debut, Class of 83, Bobby Deol plays a grumpy, po-faced yet emotional Bombay cop who digs himself deep in the burrow of focusing more on his work life rather than his family. Directed by Atul Sabharwal and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, the storyline of the movie traverses from the early to the late 80s and details the journey of an apex Police Officer. Vijay Singh (Bobby Deol), who is on punishment posting as a dean at a training school in Nashik, selects a group of five low-scoring trainees, coaches them separately, and makes them scheme against a ruthless gangster who is ravaging Bombay with this monstrous reign.

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Set entirely in the 1980s, one of the primary positives of Class of 83 is its presentation. From recreating the old gritty vibe to the production design, utilizing that gritty brown tint, and incorporating a handful of authentic B-roll footage, this film makes sure that you, as a viewer, get engaged in the vibe it’s trying to present. The synth-heavy background score alongside the close-up camera shots helps to a great extent and provides you with a docu-drama presentation that is rare to find in big studio production.

When it comes to storyline aspects of Class of 83, at least for the initial thirty-minutes, writer Abhijeet Deshpande establishes the storyline in a decent manner and installs all his story beats at the right spots so that they can navigate in the right direction until the climax. However, all the hard work and energy never really pays off as the heart and soul of the movie trails away somewhere in the second act and do not make it to the finish line in some shape or form.

The internal rage of Bobby Deol’s character to take out this criminal Don never comes off as effective as the third act of the film felt rushed and extremely choppy. His struggle of not being there for his family, the bond that he had with his wife and son, was not elaborated more emotionally. The internal strife within this five-men group does not feel anywhere near significant, and the entire angle of them finding some motivation at the very end felt forced. Subsequently, everything boils down to one of the primary attributes of a movie that Class of 83 did not properly focus on is character development.

Based on the book by Hussain Zaidi of the same name, presenting loosely based real-life stories on screen is always a doubtful advantage. Another movie that succeeded in taking cinematic liberties and dramatizing almost everything is Gunjan Saxena. In the process of showcasing a compelling narrative, amplifying certain scenes is fair play.

However, Atul Sabharwal’s vision to present everything realistically worked well when it comes to the entire vibe surrounding the story, the less impactful scenes, and the fact that it did not emotionally connect to me throughout the full runtime is a major drawback and a total disappointment.

Even though I’m sure that there is a way around to dodge these complete negatives, the extremely fast-paced narrative structure did not offer any reasonable help. Nevertheless, the performance from Bobby Deol is, to the least, compelling enough to make you sit till the end, his cranky look, sturdy screen presence, and subtle mannerisms suited his character, as I didn’t actually feel like watching the good ol’ Bobby D on-screen.

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Overall, the Class of 83 had a ton of potential to present a high-impact, serious film based on the 80s mafia culture of Bombay and the retaliation of the Police force involved. But, everything that was properly arranged in the first act did not come into fruition as the complete film from that point on suffered from mediocrity and substandard storytelling. Watch it once if you have nothing else to do. Watch ‘Class of 83’ on Netflix here.

Rating – 2/5 | Grade – C

Images via Netflix