Crash Course is fronted by Annu Kapoor as Ratanraj Jindal, a ruthless businessman who aims to change the landscape of Kota by making the institute the no. 1. But he faces competition from the Batras, run by two brothers who also treat education as a business despite their father’s insistence to not do so. Amid this rivalry, and as a consequence of it, the students at Kota become pawns in a high-stakes and dark game of chess.
The students all fall into Indian content tropes and while they aren’t relegated to a singular story arc, the characterisation rarely expands, making them interesting but not memorable.
The cast, including Hridhu Haroon, Mohit Solanki, Shanaya Qazi and others hold their ground on screen – working on the material they’re handed. Alongside is AK, who inspires hordes of students to chant his name across the Batra campus, seemingly for his teaching technique. It works well for show and pizazz but little so for the story arc, reminding viewers of the sharper, witty Jeetu bhaiyya.
Under the helm of actor-director Vijay Maurya and creator Manish Hariprasad, Crash Course delves into darker themes and corners than earlier Kota-based shows like Kota Factory. This is a plus, since it doesn’t deprive its younger characters of the different aspects of adolescence, allowing each to explore and then suffer the consequences of their decisions.
Within the scope of the business of education, the show has multiple arcs all entangling with each other at a rapid pace, leading to a predictable outcome– some of the arcs come off half-baked and perhaps removing those would’ve created space for other important themes to be better explored.
The star of the show is Annu Kapoor, playing the energetic, cutthroat, and often vindictive Jindal, who will go to any lengths to fulfil his dream, even if it comes at the cost of his students’ wishes. Kapoor commands the screen every time he’s on it with his vernacular inflexion and screen presence.
The brutality with which he surges forward towards his idea for ‘RJ Nagar’ is terrifying since the show lays bare the many ways it affects those around him.
Unlike Kota Factory, the show is more gripping when it’s focusing on the business and the politics of education, especially living through Udit Arora as Binny, the ‘real kingpin’ of Kota. On paper, Crash Course might’ve come across as a spiritual sequel to its predecessors but in simultaneously expanding and shifting its lens, it tells a different story about the city.
Crash Course, produced by Owlet Films, is streaming on Amazon Prime.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)