What I appreciate about this remake is the introduction of the caste system. It brings to light a menace that still remains prevalent in India. The show also lightly touches upon the sort of prejudice a Kashmiri Muslim has to face here. I've seen it happen myself. So, when a character says, "she doesn't even belong in this country," I remembered someone spewing those exact kind of poison. So, I found it quite relatable.
That said, I wish the makers had taken a greater effort to merge it with the way things are in India, rather than creating a fantastical portrayal in certain things. I don't know of a single institute in India where students can get away with using the sort of lingo that the students do here in front of the teachers. Good or bad, it just doesn't ring true. I would have appreciated a more realistic portrayal of the classroom rather than copying the Spanish culture in an Indian backdrop. It doesn't work that way.
Now, let's get to some of the real problems with this remake. When the initial trailer was released, the first thing I prayed that the writers would have the wisdom to not kill off Marina (Maria Pedraza) in the first season. I loved Anjali Sivaraman's acting in Cobalt Blue and was sure she would do justice here as well. And she did that in Suhani's role. She was absolutely brilliant in the scene where she's apologizing to Dheraj for the things she has done. I felt that Marina's (Suhani's) character had potential for more nuanced exploration if she was kept alive in the first season, if someone else had taken the fall instead of her in that random encounter at the end. And now, I find no reason to at all cae for a second season. Let me tell you why.
Firstly, where Elite excelled is having an excellent cast, especially that of Carla (Ester Exposito). She was another fantastic actress. And following the romantic subplot between. Carla and Samuel was quite interesting. Naina Bhan as Koel Kalra doesn't have the same X-factor for me. (Sorry!) And seeing that the makers are following the plot of the original verbatim, I know that's where we'll be going. (I loved Madhyama Segal as Saba Manzoor and Gurfateh Pirzada as Neeraj, though.) Now, these are, of course, my personal preferences. Others may feel differently about the casting. But let's come to the real problem.
Spanish TV series have a long tradition of actors leaving the show midway for other projects. So is true for Elite. We have seen some of the most loved characters leave the show with some laughably made-up excuses. Now, even if Netflix greenlights this show for later seasons, what will the makers of Class do? Ask their actors to pack their bag and leave, just because their Spanish counterparts did the same? Seeing that the writers have zero originality as far as the plot of the series is concerned, I'm really not feeling quite upbeat about its future.
In gist, Class could have encashed upon so much unitilized potential that Elite had for its later seasons that got buried under some poor storytelling choices in the first season. With some originality, Class could have done it so much better. But it's the same old same old. Even for people who liked the first season, I'm not quite sure if the show will be salvagable second season onward with its current choices. And one of the strongest reasons being, unlike Elite, they don't have a female lead to step into Anjali's shoes.
