Class review: Compelling adaptation of a beloved series

In Class, the arrival of three new students from a poor neighborhood creates conflict at a prestigious school that ends in a murder. The series is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

Dheeraj, Saba, and Balram, also known as Balli, receive scholarships and a chance to study at Hampton International when their old school gets burned down due to a fire.

Most of the students at Hampton International stay hostile towards these newcomers, believing that they don’t belong here with them.

Suhani Ahuja, daughter of Suraj Ahuja, a wealthy builder from Delhi, grows fond of Dheeraj. Despite her brother, Veer, warning her about getting too close to the new students, she forms a bond with Dheeraj.

Hanging out with Dheeraj results in her meeting his brother, Neeraj, who is known for carrying out protests against her father. He suspects that her father is behind the fire at Dheeraj’s old school.

With Suhani as a friend, Neeraj attempts to exact revenge on Suraj Ahuja by stealing money from him to pay back his dues. Amidst all of this, animosity at school grows as Hampton’s richest start plotting against the newcomers.

Performances

Piyush Khatia, as Dheeraj, despite being one of the leads, doesn’t get much time to shine. At times, it hardly feels like he is the lead of the show.

Almost every other character has something going on for them except for Khatia’s character, who seems to have been only waiting for Suhani to interact.

Gurfateh Pirzada, as Neeraj, on the other hand, does a better job than Khatia at carrying the plot forward.

Cwaayal Singh, who plays Balli, steals the show in every scene he is in. He portrays himself as a boy who would never leave his roots, and it’s entertaining to watch him take on Hampton’s richest.

The same goes for Madhyama Segal as Saba. Segal’s character faces restrictions, but she, as Saba, doesn’t let them hamper her.

Segal’s character retains Balli’s down-to-earth traits, but unlike him, Saba is more of a smooth-talker when it comes to facing Zeyn Shaw’s Veer and Ayesha Kanga’s Yashika.

Talking about Zeyn Shaw, it feels like his character is the only one that grows the most during the show by being around Madhyama Segal’s Saba.

Anjali Sivaraman’s portrayal of Suhani isn’t pleasing either. Sivaraman fails to add that depth to her character that would make the viewers sympathize with her.

The rest of the cast playing the affluent kids balances it out well. At times, they are intolerable, but they do redeem themselves as time goes by.

Positives

Class doesn’t waste time in forming that boundary between the newcomers from the poor neighborhood and Hampton’s richest in the first 10 minutes. One can notice that these newcomers are still adjusting and are naive toward this class difference.

There are a number of subplots going on. None of them are a drag. Each one of these subplots builds the characters further and helps viewers become familiar with them.

There will come a time when the viewer will understand these characters inside and out, and they will be able to either root for them or predict how they would react to a certain situation.

The show uses a zoom-out camera technique in some cases, featuring at least two characters in the frame.

These scenes look paused for a few seconds and help the viewers understand what the characters are feeling toward themselves and sometimes toward each other without the use of dialogue.

Negatives

The friendships depicted in the show don’t seem real at all. For instance, it’s suggested that Suhani and Koel are childhood friends, but the show doesn’t care to bring them together in one frame until the plot requires it.

In the latter half, more emphasis is given to the drama that unfolds in affluent households than the class difference between the two main groups that viewers get to see.

Verdict

Class captures the world of a small community comprised of super-rich Indians. The school environment portrayed is not at all relatable, but if given time, viewers will get comfortable with it and will find themselves engrossed in it.

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