The Spanish teen drama Elite is heading into its seventh season and has enjoyed overwhelming popularity worldwide. An Indian remake of the series named 'Class' was released on the 3rd of February, and it is a must-watch for the subcontinent viewers, given that they have enjoyed Elite.
The show has eight episodes, and the plotline pretty much replicates that of Elite, albeit with a subcontinental flavour. The series revolves around the lives of three students from a government school in Delhi who gain a scholarship to an elite and exclusive private school after their school is burnt down in a fire.
At first, their peers from 'The Hampton International' do not accept them as a part of their club, but slowly they start making their way into their social circles. The three characters Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli, completely resemble Samuel, Nadia, and Christian from the original series in every possible way. The writers have done a wonderful job placing them within the context of Delhi.
The series also does a good job of portraying the latent casteism that is so rampant in India. Dheeraj Valmiki belongs to a lower caste, and along with his socio-economic background, this has been one of the recurring themes when it comes to him getting bullied by his classmates. In contrast, only the socio-economic background was the case with Samuel, the Elite character on whom Dheeraj is based.
In the case of Saba, she pretty much represents Nadia from the series, with the exception that she is originally from Kashmir and tries to hide the fact by telling everyone that she is from Uttar Pradesh.
Latent Islamophobia in the upper echelons of Indian society has also been skillfully played up by the show's writers.
The show ends just like the first season of Elite, with a murder and the mystery that ensues afterwards, and is quite a good watch for the weekends.
However, the show has a lot of moments that might be considered tacky or downright stupid, but despite all that, the show is a really good one, at least as far as entertainment is concerned.
