“Crash Course” is the latest Amazon Prime Special which is set in the educational hub of India i.e. Kota. This ten episodes long series spanning around 45 minutes each is directed by Vijay Maurya and written by Manish Hariprasad and Raina Roy.
The story of the show starts from Rajasthan’s Kota where there is a fierce competition between two oldest and reputed coaching institutes led by Ratanraj Jindal (played by Annu Kapoor) and Arvind Batra (played by Siddharth Kak). This competition soon turns into an ugly fight for power and as a result affecting students’ studies. Now living in such conditions, how do students focus on their studies and mold themselves in such an environment is what the series mainly revolves around.
The business running in the name of education has been given an important place in the series – how these coaching institutes are busy in filling their pockets and in the race of leaving each other behind, they are shamelessly playing with the future of many innocent and hard working children. Unlike other shows based on Kota this series delves into the darker side of the city as well. The characters are not just limited to coaching, a gratifying effort has been made to showcase their friendship, love life, heartbreak, cut-throat pressure and competition among students, etc which has the potential to take you back to your student life.
The duration of each episode is definitely long enough to test your patience but the way makers have tried to give the series a thrilling touch, it somehow manages to hold you together. The character building is one of the biggest plus points of the show, it is done so beautifully that they all feel like your own.
In terms of performances, it’s Annu Kapoor who steals the show as Ratanraj Jindal, the money minded businessman who holds no guilt for putting students career at stake to become leading coaching institute in the city. His rival Arvind Batra, known as the ‘Father Of Education in Kota’ is played by Siddharth Kak who’s very much effective in the role. To senior Batra teaching is a noble profession unlike two of his sons Shashak (played by Bhanu Uday) and Mayank (played by Chirag Vohra) who only wants to take Batra Institute to the top by any means.
In the supporting cast, there are young and talented actors like Hridhu Aroon (Sathya), Hetal Gada (Teja), Riddhi Kumar (Shanaya), Vidhi Gupta (Anushka Kaushik) in the role of IIT aspirants who managed to leave a mark with their convincing performances. Pranay Pachuri as Batra’s famous physics teacher AK sir leaves a lasting impression. All in all, a decent star cast who manages to attract your attention.
With all said and done, “Crash Course” is definitely not that bad of a deal if you’re a student who prepared/ is preparing for these engineering or medical entrance exams as you’ll be able to connect yourselves easily to the characters. Whereas for the rest of the audience it would be time consuming and accordingly doesn’t even do justice to it. With shows like “Kota Factory” already made in the past which have very well explored the education racket while capturing the true spirit of the city, I would suggest giving your precious time there if you haven’t watched it already.
“Crash Course” produced by Owlet Films is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
