Loving TVF Pitchers: The complete tale of an unusual love story

The June of 2015, took the scene of Indian web series to new heights. It was the month “TVF Pitchers” was released by The Viral Fever (TVF). It focuses on the rising culture of start-ups in India much like the “American Dream” and the story revolves around four friends: Naveen Bansal (Naveen), Jitendra Maheshwari (Jitu), Yogendra Kumar (Yogi) and, Saurabh Mandal (Mandal) and their dream to make it big. Directed by Amit Golani, TVF Pitchers puts the life of a normal, ambitious, young professional and puts it for the world to view and thus breaking the stereotype of a young Indian as portrayed by Kunal Nayyar’s character “Raj” in the hit American sitcom, The Big Bang Theory.

The show starts like any other, introducing characters, developing the story and setting the theme. But what makes it so adored is the fact that it is made keeping the normal, average Indian in mind. There are no sports cars exit introduction of protagonists, no silly love songs, no exotic foreign locations, just simple guys who hangout at their bar, drink beers and ponder over their futures and also have fun, once in a while.

TVF is primarily focuses on comedy in their other Youtube videos and the various forms of it but in TVF pitchers, they focus on the plethora of human emotions and tinkers with it beautifully. They have managed to put a desi version of “Silicon Valley” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” rolled into one. For any review, it’s necessary to analyse the parts which owes to the compostion of the final product and thus,

• Acting- Acting had never been so fresh, vibrant and powerful until now. We had associated TVF to being funny but this set of actors performed quite a miracle infront of the camera. Never for a moment did I feel that the acting was bland or the dialogue delivery, feeble.
• Screenplay- It is certainly a wonder how Biswapati Sarkar has managed to become one of India’s best writers in such short duration. The transition and the development of characters is done with exceptional brilliance. The story progresses with a steady pace and each scene is very well written.
• Dialogues- The dialogues penned down by him are well, legendary! There is nothing too dramatic or flashy about the dialogues, but each one of them strikes a chord and often, the right one. Many dialogues of the series still continue to be talked about and referenced in the daily lives of many young Indians.
• Direction- Even without having much experience, Mr. Golani does a tremendous job of giving shape to the lumps of raw talent and which made this one of the most wonderful shows in India.
• Production Value- Everything on the set, the location, the backdrop was spot on. The middle class yet hip bar, the filthy bedroom of an apartment and the overused but under-serviced car was the part of a very ordinary but, impressive tale of those few young people who set out their heart to success.
• Music- Well, the Gen-Y of India feed their soul with music and TVF knew how important it was for them to create a show which could have really good music instead of the “overly dramatised choruses” which is passed off as background music in the Indian TV. The opening title song was peppy and soon it found solace in the ringtones of many fans. The background music is neither overwhelming nor too soft and it flatters each scene quite adequately.
• Marketing- TVF capitalises on the brand power which they have created for themselves and well, the number of viewers they have gotten is well, extraordinary. The marketing team relied on the conventional marketing techniques rather than aggressive marketing which turned out to be quite favourable for them. More than 1 million viewers have watched each episode which is quite an achievement in itself.
  

Apart from all this we like this because, it has given us some pretty legendary dialogues, the awesome and understanding girlfriend, the amazing and supporting wife, few points to discuss while we are with our friends in our adda and chomping “peanuts”. It also aids to the fact that their group is the generic group of friends which is found all over India;

• The Extra Studious and Dad fearing Jitu.
• The Chomu (for the lack of a better word in English) Mandal who is usually the teacher’s pet.
• The bully, yet intelligent Yogi who has an array of abuses in 4 different languages at his disposal.
• The leader by choice, Naveen who gives shape and identity to the group.

TVF has found the middle region in the venn diagram between desiness and classiness and created something of a legacy which will be left behind even after years have passed. TVF Pitchers is that pristine lotus in the muddy water which is the Indian shows market and blooms quite beautifully. After many years, when we are old and meet our friends in some alumni meet or reunion and, ask what they are doing or what they are are in their respective fields, I am sure that atleast one of the replies will be “Tu beer hai, BC”.