As nine teams battle it out in the sixth season of the Indian Premier League, a winning catch of TV commentary and choreography make it worth a watch, writes Chetna Keer.
When all those busy celebrities driving the commercials on television devote to brand building, their ‘Knight’ and day, it’s got to be the summer of cricket play.
When all those ads for drinks fizzy go into a tizzy sporting taglines aplenty, it’s got to be time for T20.
When couch potatoes committed to a Nach Baliye get grooving instead to a ‘Jumping Japang’, it’s got to be that annual match between the trademark C’s: Cricketainment bash, Cash and Controversy ‘n’ clash!
And so, as season six of IPL has kickstarted that clash of the TRPs, it’s time for the telly viewers to get bombarded with a blitzkrieg that comes riding on commercials and commentators.
From Cadbury dishing out a sugar coating to cricketainment with ‘T20 ka Shubh Aarambh’, to Pepsi, the official sponsor of the league’s season six, lending it fizz with ‘Oh Yes Abhi!’, a la ‘Rockstar’ Ranbir, season 2013 brings a summer of sports-driven TV templates all repackaged, reinvented and recharged.
When commercials get a makeover, how can commentators be far behind! So, the 2013 edition of Sony Max’s flagship show, Extraaa Innings T20, gets a facelift, too, in the shape of two new presenters. Actor Karishma Kotak and the ravishing Femina Miss India International 2012, Rochelle Maria Rao, edge out earlier Extraaa Innings (EI) staples Shibani Dandekar and Archana Vijaya.
So, does this makeover spell something more than substituted sizzle, or is it just new wine in old bottle simply set to fizzle? Does the better botoxed and bolder 2013 EI edition deliver a sixer for telly’s cricketainment template?
That sizzle has become a staple of cricket commentary on Indian television is now old hat. Rather, old strap. Even since Mandira Bedi’s entry into Extraaa Innings made the talk of this sport synonymous as much with a slip of a noodle strap as with leg slip, oodles of oomph has become a staple of the show as much as Sidhuisms as well as Samir Kochhar and Gaurav Kapur’s ‘bhangra-isms’.
Oomph has come riding into the TV show, not only on the face of stadium presenters, but also courtesy cheerleaders. So, this season, too, to get the telly viewers floored and make the commentators glad, there are on the studio dance floor cheerleaders who’re suitably skimpily clad.
Beauty with brains
This year’s professional cheerleaders from the NFL New York Giants team (substituting last season’s Miami Dolphins from the USA) continue to be to cricket brawn what presenters Karishma and Rochelle are to cricket brain. For, this duo of dashing damsels strives to steer clear of being the ‘dumb blondes’ of cricketainment.
The two take a shot at bringing brains into the studio and stadia by intelligently dishing out the hits and misses of the game without missing out on the off-field trivia and tales.
But basically, all that the presenters’ fresh faces do for Extraaa Innings is what replacing Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu with Deepika Padukone or Jacqueline did for Bollywood flick Race 2: Sizzle Substituted! The screenplay and script stays much the same, only the cast in the credits changes.
Coming to the cast of cricket commentators, keeping the cricketing content alive and kicking is more or less the same expert panel from previous season: Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sunil Gavaskar, Ajay Jadeja, Harsha Bhogle, Rameez Raja & Co. Bringing in the freshness quotient even in this star-studded line-up is none other than the former skipper synonymous as much with the World Cup win as with classic commercial ‘Palmolive da jawaab nahin’ — Kapil Dev — who makes his EI debut this season.
While it is the cricket conversations that essentially drive the show and save it from being a mere sizzle spectacle, Extraaa Innings 2013 isn’t just about the winners on the field. It has itself delivered a winner in the shape of its signature song ‘Jumping Japang’, choreographed by director Farah Khan. That this song and slogan ‘Sirf dekhne ka nahin’ have become an anthem for cricket lovers across the country is but obvious from the footage of commoners, young and old, grooving to the catchy choreography and catchphrase.
So, it was but natural for the TV show to host the lady behind the lusty moves. And Farah, drawing to the dance floor none other than the inimitable Sidhu ‘bhaaji’ to do a Jumping Japang is what cricketainment is all about. For, it was like the staging of no less than an IPL match: Bollywood vs Bhaaji. Or better still, Remix vs Bhangra!
For, with her cult choreography, Jumping Japang Farah has delivered for cricket lovers what her Sheila ki Jawani did for cine goers: an anthem that brings on an adrenaline rush.
And just as Sidhu ‘bhaaji’ gives his own bhangra twist to Jumping Japang, so does Extraaa Innings deliver its own twist to telly commentary.
Purists may cry ‘n’ cringe at this entertainment extraaa dose ‘running out’ pure and simple sport. But, as with Bollywood, today T20 too spells ‘scores’ that sizzle, ‘figures’ that rock, and item ‘numbers’ aplenty.
And therein does Extraaa Innings 2013 score. It dishes out entertainment, proper and pure!