Kota Factory 3 Review: Is Jeetu Bhaiya Enough for This Show To Win the Rat Race?

Kota Factory has never been a show about hope – even though it might sometimes position itself that way sometimes – because the makers realise that writing a store purely made of hope would be disservice to the reality of their setting. 

After having joined the premiere institute Maheshwari in season 1 and then finding his way back to his friends with Jeetu Bhaiya’s AIMERS classes, Vaibhav is now set for D-Day: the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination). From season 1, Kota Factory has been symbolic of the TVF charm – the makers understand their characters at a deeply personal level. The fact that ‘Jeetu Bhaiya’ – Kota’s ‘agony aunt’ – is such a well-sketched-out character is only an added bonus.

But season 3 is tough on Jeetu – a tragedy at Kota leaves him feeling both helpless and responsible, making him question his place in his students’ lives and the actual consequences to being an ‘agony aunt’. As the students stand at the precipice of their dreams (or aims as Jeetu would say), all the pressure that they’ve dealt with in the past few years is standing there with them; latched to their shoulders.

While the first two seasons focused on students like Vaibhav (Mayur More), Vartika (Revathi Pillai), Meena (Ranjan Raj), Meenal (Urvi Singh), Uday (Alam Khan), and Shivangi (Ahsaas Channa), adjusting to the environment of Kota while trying to navigate teenage life, the third season places this ‘introspection’ on Jeetu.

The man who has been the cheerful focal point of Kota Factory now becomes its most troubled figure.

The show’s depiction of grief is commendable – it doesn’t always take the easy way out when dealing with Jeetu’s trauma. His trauma manifests in several ways – some even he can’t quite understand.

It’s good that the show also makes the distinction between Jeetu Bhaiya’s role in his students’ lives and the role of a therapist in his. And yet, at no point, does it pit the two forms of support against each other. And yet, we see very little of the impact losing a classmate might have had on the students – it’s like Vernali’s demise becomes a narrative tool to shift into Jeetu’s new arc.

A few mentions about the roofs being locked and fans with springs happen but the actual disturbing reality of the situation doesn’t permeate the world the show has created. In a show that is called Kota Factory, the ‘factory’ part of its name becomes a mention instead of an actual study into why the show got that name.

At this point, it feels like Jeetu comes naturally to Jitendra Kumar – the portrayal feels so ‘easy’ to watch (not to discredit his efforts into portraying the character because that is what leads to the feeling). The shift between his persona in season 2 and season 3 is stark as daylight – the effort the Jeetu from the present is making to be the Jeetu from the past is evident.

The rest of the cast remains picture-perfect with Channa’s comic timing and firebrand personality and Alam Khan’s ne'er-do-well faux bravado finally cracking being the highlights. The show’s anchor is still more as the hard-working Vaibhav, who has perfected the mix of frustration and diligence. The only issue, however, is that the dialogues now feel too ‘formulaic’.

They feel structured to make the audience feel a certain way – the callbacks to Jeetu’s dialogues in Meena’s equation with a student, for instance.

Yes, the makers understand their characters but by making them talk to each other in ‘lines’ instead of feelings, one can’t help but wonder if the characters understand each other.

While it introduces newer arcs, there’s little else that feels novel about Kota Factory. The cinematography, with mindfully placed aerial shots and sometimes unnecessarily placed arc shots, is still impressive enough to keep you hooked and the black-and-white palette still works. The problem with the women in Kota Factory still persists – Channa’s character, while brilliantly performed, still feels like a ‘concept’ more than a character.

It is the ‘bindaas’ female character that became quite popular with the YouTube series audience – there could’ve been so much more to her. Or even Vartika who, despite receiving arcs of her own, primarily remains ‘Vaibhav’s girlfriend’. This is primarily also because the show still doesn’t place enough of a critical eye on its own protagonist – his mistakes are easily brushed under the rug by someone telling him what to do. Is Shivangi planning to stay with them their entire lives?

The person who arrives like a breath of fresh air is Tillotama Shome as the new Chemistry faculty whose place at Kota is shaky. Stepping into her classes on-screen almost made me regret not continuing to study Chemistry – the charm and gravitas Shome brings to her roles is replicated here. I have consistently believed that she is one of the finest actors we have and to see her share screen with Jitendra Kumar and Rajesh Kumar is an absolute delight.

Kota Factory does have an appeal, that can’t be denied – when it first released, it was a one-of-its-kind show but now, that space isn’t uncontested. With several shows taking various routes to show student life – however realistic or unrealistic they might be – one can’t help but wonder if Kota Factory is doing enough to (ironically) win that rat race.

Rating: 3 Quints out of 5