Let's get straight to point. There are many things shown in this series that just can't be digested by average Indian audience. The makers have simply stuck to the original "Elite" without much changes to its controversial parts. However, overall, the series is pretty interesting and technically superior.
So for those who haven't seen Elite like me, the story is a whodunit thriller where we explore the past of a bunch of school teenagers and what ultimately leads to the murder of Suhani Ahuja . The past explores a lot of things in the relationships between the students.
First, let's talk about the whodunit part. It was damn surprisingly good. For those who haven't seen Elite, they won't be able to guess for a second also who is the killer considering all the students in picture have a grey shade to their characters and all are under suspicion. When the killer is revealed, it is a shocker because just before the moment Suhani gets killed, you feel there are others as well willing to kill Suhani.
Second, let's get to the past , the bulk of the story. So this part is a bit of "Student of the Year" and "Parasite" mix. I would say this Netflix school is the daddy of KJo school. From school kids consuming alcohol, drugs to getting involved in unbelievably weird fetishes to constant shaming to students kissing their elder teachers , when you just witness those scenes, many of them will make your skin crawl with disgust. There's absolutely no study in this school. Time to time you have to slap your face hard to remind yourself that these are being done by school kids, not college students. I don't know man i maybe too poor to understand what these rich people do or what awkward fetishes they possess but ya ..thi s series shows all that and you have a hard time believing all this . Makers should realise in which country they are remaking such series whether it suits their taste or not.
The clash of rich and poor is explored in Indian cinema a million times and this kind of presentation might not impress many . You have the rich always calling the poor "waiter" "beggars" and all sorts of filty stuff like c'mon , it's 2023 and i really don't think we still live in this era where kids from well educated families would even do so.
However, i really liked a lot of things . The relationships between the students is explored pretty well in this series . I like the relationship explored between Suhani and Dheeraj, Faruq and Dhruv and to some extent, Saba and Veer. Despite being a gay relation, i felt Faruq and Dhruv had the most beautiful relationship between them and it stood out amongst all . The remaining relationships like Koel's weird fetishy Balli and Sharan, and Balli - Sharan' s gay relationship, and Veer - (Tara sutaria clone) relationship were either cringy or too disgusting to accept. The fact that again, these are being shown to be done by school teenagers makes me somewhat feel really disgusted. In India, such filthy stuff doesn't happen in schools like boys randomly roaming around naked, or some girl putting their panties in boys lockers , man all these stuff happen in America, not india.
The technical details of this film is just outstanding. The raw and rustic lanes of old Delhi are shown so well. The raw background sounds are incorporated so well, from a peacock sound / sweet music sound at a rich persons house to the sound of people coughing loudly and incessantly and water dripping noise at the Poor's house . The lighting is terrific. The screenplay is fast and interesting. Bgm is also well used.
One thing to note is this series doesn't try to show the rich enjoying and the poor struggling. It shows how both classes have equal problems in their lives .
Performance wise, Suhani, Saba, Dhruv, Dheeraj, Neeraj, Faruq were the best for me. Rest were too cringy or overacting shops. Overall, i think this series might not find widespread acceptance in india . However, if the fetish part is ignored, then it's a pretty riveting and dark presentation of class division in society with an interesting Whodunit angle to it. It was definitely a surprise watch for me.
