Kota Factory 2 review: Far removed from reality

Kota Factory 2

Hindi (Web series/Netflix)

Created by: Saurabh Khanna and Arunabh Kumar

Cast: Jitendra Kumar, Mayur More, Ranjan Raj,

Rating: 2/5

‘Kota Factory’ is about the IIT admission race set in Kota, famous for its coaching institutes. The second season of the Hindi web series is as ordinary as the first.

In the first season, we saw the story of three friends Vaibhav (Mayur), Meena (Ranjan) and Uday (Alam Khan) at Prodigy Institute, a centre fighting to match the status of its rival Maheshwari. The show failed to dig deep into the culture of such high-pressure environments.

It was relatable to see Kota as a place obsessed with numbers. An auto driver talking about how the city turned into a giant hostel that hosts IIT aspirants gives it an authentic start. The series also quickly takes a dig at the unhealthy canteen food served to these future engineers.

But the show fizzles out soon by passively glorifying the imperfect world. It is content with low-hanging fruit, going after friendship and cutesy love stories.

In the second season, physics teacher Jeetu Bhaiya (Jitendra Kumar) is shown as a heroic figure. The students call him their ‘agony aunt’ but the problems stay away from the harsh truths of teens being pushed to mindless careerism.

Affected by the stress of having to live up to family expectations and scoring marks, many students commit suicide in this town. But in ‘Kota Factory’, we see Jeetu Bhaiya delivering a long lecture on post-masturbation guilt.

The show sells the idea that home food is the only precious aspect these teens should feel bad about missing.

Jeetu Bhaiya is a philosopher who can’t catch suicidal behaviour in his students. He tells those suffering from exam fear not to think of things that cause them anxiety. ‘Kota Factory’ isn’t cinematically great either as the writing is too stagey. The performances hold both seasons together, though. Ranjan Raj as this innocent, small town boy is notable for his comic timing and dialogue delivery. Jitendra Kumar does well but the role isn’t enough for his calibre.