It took seven years but a new season of TVF Pitchers is about to be released. When the show was launched in 2015, it was one of the first web shows in Hindi. And its surprise success made it a cult hit. Over the years, many have wondered if it would ever return. Now that it is, the trailer hints that one of the four original cast members–Jitendra Kumar aka Jitu–may be absent this time. The show’s lead actor and creator Arunabh Kumar and director Vaibhav Bundhoo talk to Hindustan Times about that and the new season in general.
Talking about the seven year gap between the two seasons, Arunabh says, “When we made the first season, we didn’t know what it was. We didn’t have series in those days. Many articles say that Pitchers is the first long form premium content. From that perspective, there was no 4G, videos would buffer. It became so big that we said season 2 has to be better. And better doesn’t just mean the content but also the viewing experience, which includes the internet and the platform. It took time for that ecosystem to be built. And then writing always takes time. The real reason is that the research and writing took a really long time. The episodes are 60 minutes long this time and the finale is 75 minutes. So that’s 5 and a half hours of content, that’s almost three films.”
Pitchers is about a start-up founded by four friends–played by Arunabh, Jitendra, Naveen Kasturia, and Abhay Mahajan. While Arunabh, Naveen, and Abhay are back for season 2, Jitendra is conspicuously absent. Explaining the decision to not include the character, Arunabh says, “Like it happens with filmmaking, 200 things have to fall in place at the same time. It was part-creative, part-logistic, part something we wanted to do with the story.” However, he does drop a hint that Jitu–Jitendra’s character–may just be present in secret. “I am again saying watch till the finale. It’s not that somebody is missing and somebody is not. When we researched, we found that in 99% of startups, one of the founders goes missing. That’s what we are saying right now as well. Sometimes they quit, sometimes there is a difference of opinion, sometimes there is a fight, or one is fired. There could be any of this. Once you watch the show, you will see. Hopefully, you will see we have tried to do something real. Whether you like it or not depends on a lot of things,” he adds.
Director Vaibhav Bundhoo has the enviable task of recreating the atmosphere and tone of a show that has become an important part of Indian pop culture. “I still remember the basic essence of the show and that’s what we have tried to recapture. We kept a very healthy balance between the comedy and the emotional scenes. At the same time, we offered something new to the audience,” he says. The composer-turned-director admits there is pressure on him, though. “Yes, definitely,” he says, adding, “in creating the show, in executing it, we had to make sure, we had to go one level up in terms of story, visuals, music and everything.”
Arunabh is quick to add that season 3 will not make the audience wait long. When asked if it will take the team seven more years to mount the next season, he laughs and says, “Hopefully not! The whole team of Zee5 gave us all the freedom to make this and they are also saying this time don’t take seven years. So, we have already started thinking.” Pitchers season 2 begins streaming on Zee5 from December 23.