One still from the ‘class’ Photo credit: Sachin Sony/Netflix
Watching a spectacle on streaming platforms. A spectacle of sexualized teenagers involved in murder investigations is evident in the shows. 13 reasons And Riverdale.
the classthe Indian adaptation of the Spanish hit show elite, Directed by Asham Ahluwalia, seeks to provide commentary on the class conflict that rages in the bowels of every metropolitan city in India whose embers occasionally tear the fabric of society. However, the eight-episode show bites off more than it can chew.
the class
Director: Asham Ahluwalia
Cast: Griftah Pirzada, Anjali Sivaraman, Ayesha Kanga, Chayan Chopra, Chintan Rach, Koyal Singh, Madhima Segal, Musa Kaul, Neena Bhan, Piyush Khati, Zain Shaw
Episodes: 8
Story: Three students from a poor neighborhood enter an exclusive high school for Delhi’s elite, where dark secrets and rumors eventually lead to murder.
Featuring a host of debutantes, the show is set at Hampton International, a private school in Delhi boasting giant swimming pools, prestigious MUN conferences, and prestigious scholarships to study abroad. Is. was murdered outside the school premises and his acquaintances became prime suspects.
Like the original, the show traces the events that lead up to the tragedy. After a suspicious fire broke out at a government school in Noorpur Khatola, three students from a low-income school are admitted to Hampton on scholarship. Dheeraj Valmiki (Piyush Khati) is a determined student who is determined to make good use of this opportunity and escape poverty, while Balram ‘Bali’ Patwal (Kowal Singh), who claims that his English “Bullet Train” is like protein shakes and making a name for yourself in the modeling industry; He wears his 289K+ followers on Instagram like a badge. Saba Manzoor (Madhima Segal) is the dutiful daughter of Kashmiri immigrants who helps her father in his business after school, and aspires to become a foreign diplomat.
The trio’s presence in Delhi’s school and elite social circles is enough to invite taunts from their classmates who bully them for their accents and mock their dreams. Jealousy, insecurity, teenage infatuation and greed create elaborate plans to bring them down. While it is difficult to find the logic behind devising the schemes, they certainly promise a lot of drama on the drug.
Madhima Segal as Saba Manzoor in ‘Class’ | Photo credit: Netflix
The police investigation after the murder—high on emotion and emotion—is hard to watch with a straight face and undermines the show’s whodunnit storyline. The police are simply used as tools to advance the plot rather than the actual characters investigating the murders.
Ashim Ahluwalia, in his attempt to adapt the Spanish show to Indian sensibilities, takes too much on his plate and fails to offer a seasoned critique. From homophobia and casteism to Kashmiri immigrants and Islamophobia, he touches on them all, but fails to delve deeper into the issues.
Debutants don’t stand out, and above-the-textbook impressions don’t help their case. Their arrogance feels forced and humility out of place.
the class Not revolutionary, it’s anything but. The show is faithful in taking plot devices and character outlines from the original, but just getting the bare bones of the plot right doesn’t promise a good adaptation.
The first season of The Class is currently streaming on Netflix.
