The One where I shower praises on India’s attempt to create watchable content
In
the true spirit of ‘Mera Bharat Mahaan’
I am initiating my blogpiece with this short but incredibly sweet new web- series
that my Facebook timeline has been raving about. Titled- ‘Pitchers’, it is the second
home-grown web-series by popular online youth entertainment network TVF (The
Viral Fever). Some of you might be
consuming their content regularly or some (like me) would remember them from
their Q-tiyapa videos poking fun at TV’s angry bald men Raghu and Rajiv. You
might have also caught the very talented Biswapati Sarkar’s spoof videos of
Arnab Goswami, produced by the network. It doesn’t really matter if you have or
haven’t seen any of their previous work, because ‘Pitchers’ will give you a
pleasant little surprise.
For
the uninitiated, ‘Pitchers’ is about four friends who are struggling with their
dry /political/uninspiring work-lives and one day, for their respective reasons,
decide to leave it all and start their dream run towards launching a successful
start up firm. While this remains the basic (and not entirely original) premise
to the show, the delightful treatment of the subject took me completely off
guard. The five webisodes are a sharp and almost satirical take on India’s
booming start up culture. If you are one
yourself or are friends with entrepreneurs in India, you will love the
relatability and humour. The progression of the journey of each character seems
natural and realistic (Two words that I was yet to use for any Indian
television show). All four key characters- the witty dreamer/CEO Naveen Bansal
(like if it was possible to create a start up without a Bansal), the shy coding
genius/CTO Jeetu, the jugaad king/COO Yogi and the affable chipkoo/CMO Mandal,
connect without trying too hard. I also
want to make a special mention to the female characters on the show. The writers, who, in another first, have shown
Indian women as.. well.. Human beings. They have real jobs, ambitions and
principals in general. Armed with wit and courage, both the women portray a
hugely realistic version of so many women around me and deeply satisfy the
feminist in me. At no point does the
show resort to sexism or objectification of women, to elicit laughter. In fact, points out the obvious glass ceiling with a few hilarious references to the miniscule female
representation in India’s tech start up industry (Watch out for the Bechdel test reference!)
Of course the most important part is that there is no dearth of LOL moments in the series. In all five episodes, I laughed almost as much as I did, at the American/British TV shows I have recently watched (infact more, in some cases like TBBT) Another interesting element to the show was, that throughout the season the makers did not reveal the ‘idea’ itself that the four ‘pitchers’ were dreaming to realize. This is a solid evidence to the show’s attempt to not convolute the plot or make it technical (alienating any set of audience). What I mean to say is, you don’t exactly need to be an IIT engineer to enjoy the show.
Of course the most important part is that there is no dearth of LOL moments in the series. In all five episodes, I laughed almost as much as I did, at the American/British TV shows I have recently watched (infact more, in some cases like TBBT) Another interesting element to the show was, that throughout the season the makers did not reveal the ‘idea’ itself that the four ‘pitchers’ were dreaming to realize. This is a solid evidence to the show’s attempt to not convolute the plot or make it technical (alienating any set of audience). What I mean to say is, you don’t exactly need to be an IIT engineer to enjoy the show.
Of
course there will be cynics who will give in to the temptation of comparing it
with HBO’s Silicon Valley, in which case it will fall short of the expectations,
but in all fairness we have a lot of catching up to do. Not all of it will
happen immediately, but it’s a great start. Right from the production quality, to
music and acting, ‘Pitchers’, for me is almost revolutionary. In a rare occurrence
in contemporary Indian entertainment scene, you feel respected as an audience. If
you are still not convinced, here are my five top reasons to watch TVF’s
Pitchers-
- Audacious take on India’s growing entrepreneurial culture (You also can’t miss the self referential/meta feel to the show, given the back story of its producers)
- Humor. Almost unnoticeable slapstick, I promise
- Realistic yet funny cultural references (Melodramatic/controlling parents, Growing Tinder-ites, Arranged love marriages etc.)
- Superlative acting by all key actors
- I just really want to encourage this attempt and hope that it only gets better!
I do
understand that most of us are supremely time pressed and only want to watch
the crème de la crème of entertainment, which in most cases, is international. But I also feel that even with its flaws, a show like ‘Pitchers’
need to be watched by everyone. It’s just a small way in which we can recognize
the audacity of these Indian writers who probably are as sickened by the
currently available local options, as all of us are. And we can all do with a little bit of ‘Tu Beer Hai!’ theory in our lives. (Yes,
this was a deliberate plug to interest you in watching the show if you haven’t)
You
can catch it on TVF’s website Tvfplay.com or YouTube. Thank me later!
Love,
Me
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