If the highly acclaimed Pitchers (2015) became a fantasy masterclass for the people striving to launch their startups, its second season is a crash course in how not to run one.
Seven years later, a lot has changed. From TVF (The Viral Fever), the show has travelled to Zee5. From the group of four friends — Naveen, Yogi, Jitu, and Mandal — Pitchers returns with just three of them as Jitendra Kumar has left the show. The metaphorical relevance of beer in season one has also been replaced with whisky. As experienced entrepreneur Bhati (Abhishek Banerjee) explains beer is enough for the initial kick to begin a startup but to keep it going, one needs to upgrade to a stronger poison.
The fictional startup world, nestled in the heart of Mumbai’s Powai, has been created by Arunabh Kumar, and penned by Kumar, Shubham Sharma, Talha Siddiqui, and Prashant Kumar.
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The show revolves around two-year-old startup Pragati.ai and its founders — Naveen (Naveen Kasturia), Yogi (creator Arunabh Kumar), and Mandal (Abhay Mahajan). The fourth counterpart Jitu is no longer part of their entrepreneurial journey, following an unexplained fallout. From being rookie Silicon Valley aspirants, the three entrepreneurs step into the politics of the corporate world. Oftentimes, Pragati.ai appears like a sinking ship, owing to the rash decisions of its founder and CEO.
Prachi Meena (Ridhi Dogra), a venture capitalist, is a brilliant addition to the ensemble cast. Contrary to what we saw in the first season, the second season makes a sincere attempt to showcase more substantial female characters, be it Prachi or Appu (Ronjini Chakraborty). While it is a welcome upgrade from the previous edition, I wished there were more female entrepreneurs in real life too. In another refreshing moment, during a dialogue between Prachi and Naveen, the latter calls out the former on her privilege and societal stature. Prachi retorts with a reality check as she emphasises her surname, underlining the struggles that came with her caste identity. But beyond that tokenistic moment, the show does not dive any deeper into her backstory.
Much like its predecessor, Pitchers Season 2 is loaded with anecdotes and life lessons from real-life unicorn founders as the characters pick and choose to drive their point home. At one point, when a startup co-founder believes that going pivot would be the best business decision at a time, he cites Oyo and Instagram as examples. A pivot strategy is one that involves changing the core idea of a startup. At another point, when a group of startup founders contemplates an acquisition offer, one of them cites WhatsApp and YouTube as prime examples. Such references help make the show more realistic and authentic.
The show’s timing couldn’t have been better as the new installment of Shark Tank India, a reality TV programme that invites investment pitches from small businesses for seed money, is on the cards. The startup aspirants could learn a thing or two before they head out to pitch their ideas to the sharks/judges. Sugar Cosmetics founder Vineeta Singh, ex-shark Ashneer Grover and entrepreneur-cum-influencer Ankur Warikoo also come in for cameos.
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Vaibhav Bundhoo, who composed the tracks in Pitchers returns as a director for the second season. During the promotional campaign, Bundhoo addressed the seven-year gap between the first and second seasons, and said the team “did not want to disappoint the audience”. But, curiously, he did not say anything about the allegations of sexual harassment against the creator Arunabh Kumar during the MeToo movement. Kumar, CEO of TVF at the time, had stepped down from the post following the allegations.
Inspirational speeches, jugaad, hustle culture, venture capitalists, struggles of raising more money — Pitchers Season 2 does not surpass the magic of its former season but it comes close.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)