Off The Bat:
Like so many shows by the production company The Viral Fever (TVF), Sixer also went into the heart of small town India. The sports drama captured the world of local, tennis-ball cricket. Away from the national craze for professional cricket, away from the spotlight, fame and big money, there is the modest reality of the game that is fuelled by the same passion.
The story set in Indore, centred on Nikunj ‘Nikku’ Shukla (Shivankit Singh Parihar), known as the ‘Destroyer’ for his propensity to hit sixers. Players are attached to teams with boastful names, like Vijaynagar Vijeta, and to win tournaments that have even more grandiose names like “Indore Cricket Mahasangram.” Getting to play for the state is a dream, to play for the country is a fantasy. Still, there is ego, ambition and corruption even at the grassroots level as Nikku gets involved in some of the ugliness.
Sixer‘s greatest strength was its authenticity and emotional conflicts outside the playing field. This is on display in the second season too. Nikku returns, steered by his manager, Aussie (Badri Chavan), playing run-scoring innings at small tournaments, often winning kitchen gadgets as gifts, which he sells for money, that keeps his parents in reasonable comfort. He still needs a large sum of money to save his father’s ancestral land and cricket is the only way of earning it.
This time round, Nikku faces a rival in the form of Shanu (Gaurav Singh), the henchman of local corporator Nageshwar ‘Nagu Bhaiya’ (Anandeshwar Dwivedi), himself a cricket enthusiast. Shanu is in love with Gargi (Karishma Singh) , also a player with the team—the inclusion of a female draws no comment– and wants to impress her.
There is also the subplot with an out-of-form cricketer Sanjay (Kunal Pant), an arrogant coach (KC Shankar). who almost ruins the career of a bowler (Suraj Rikame) in his academy.
In a surprisingly moving scene, Shanu shares his traumatic past with Nikku, which somehow unites the two into an unbeatable team that Nagu Bhaiya hoped for. In the process of reaching their goals, the men learn more about what really matters to them.
The games are shot in a hurried, simplistic fashion, but the show’s strength lies in its unglamorized portrayal of cricket, and the characters’ struggles, both on and off the field, tempered with enough humour.
In Sixer 2, directed by Divyanshu Malhotra and Chaitanya Kumbhakonum, the cast delivers strong performances—particularly Parihar (who is also the writer) and Gaurav Singh, who play their parts in a low key way, understanding the requirements of a realistic show.
(This piece first appeared in seniorstoday.in)
