To be able to fully submerge ourselves in the five episodes of Sixer’s second season, we must be prepared to see cricket being stripped off all its glamour. This is no Lagaan. Sixer takes us back to the grassroots of cricket, where the struggle for young cricketers begins. It also ends at the regional level. So there is no grand finale, no World Cup, only cups of tea for the anxious players.
It takes time for us to get into the world created by writers Arunabh Kumar, Shivankit Singh Parihar (who also plays one of the leads), Harish Peddinti, Shreyansh Pandey and Vishwas Sharma, more so since the sequel comes three years after the first season.
I suggest those who haven’t seen the first season do so before getting into Season 2.
The provincial wasteland remains just the way it is. Arid and unproductive: this is no country for the movers and shakers. Co-directors Chaitanya Kumbhakonum and Divyanshu Malhotra maintain a continuity in the storytelling which is rare in sports serials where everything moves according to the momentum suited to the game.
The ambience in Sixer is constructed quietly without fuss or self-congratulation. The absence of “glamour” as defined by our cinema is the USP of the series, although viewers fed on glamorised versions of life on the OTT may find the naturalism to be a damper.
The series, like much of the very admirable production company TVF’s output, portrays the struggles of the young aspirants at the grassroots level, without pulling punches.
It is significant that the protagonists Nikku (Shivankrit Singh Parihar) and Shanu (Gaurav Singh) are seen more off the field than on it. This is not a series tapping into the “thrills” of the game. The grime and grit behind the scenes occupy the forefront, defiantly and without apology.
In my favourite episode 3, Nikku and Shanu, fiercely competitive until that point, come close when they visit the latter’s village. In a quiet moment of interaction, Shanu tells his background story to Nikku. The sense of belonging in a world where the players are never inured to a higher ground, but connected by their shared modest dreams, buoys the series. You may not find heartthrobs in Sixer. But the heartbeat of the real working-class India is palpable.
