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| A still from Kota Factory Season 3 |
Kota Factory Season 3: Jitendra Kumar Maintains His Equilibrium With Impressive Control
Season 3 of Kota Factory: Vaibhav, Balmukund As sharpshooters, Meena and Uday Gupta handle personal struggles, the very competitive IIT coaching environment, and their romantic—or, in one instance, platonic—relationships with Vartika, Shivangi, and Meenal. Season 3 of Kota Factory is filled with nonstop chatter and the clatter of intricate mathematical equations and difficulties. In that sense, the Netflix series, which is produced by TVF, delivers more of what we have become accustomed to from it.
However, there is more to the five new episodes that continue to follow the hardships faced by boys and girls in Kota's IIT coaching environment. Until now, the not-so-secret sauce used at Kota Factory was mostly sweet and sour.
Several dramatic crescendos find their way into the plot. These aid in spicing up the show as it hurtles towards its finale - the all-important IIT-JEE Advanced Examination.
Growing up has its flip side. It comes with its share of awkward tumbles and bitter lessons. Kota Factory S3 seamlessly incorporates additional layers into its narrative tapestry without overtly tampering with its naturalistic core.
Between the occasionally excessive and the unmistakably essential, the season created by Raghav Subbu (who directed the ten episodes that constituted the first two seasons of the show) and producer Arunabh Kumar offers much that is insightful, illuminating and entertaining.
The five new episodes delve deeply into the minds and temperaments of Vaibhav, Meena, Uday, Vartika, Shivangi, and Meenal, exploring the unsettling pressures of keeping up with the curriculum and racing against time, the crushing stress of the impending exams, and the gnawing fear of failing to fulfil the expectations of parents and teachers as D-Day draws near.
Amid great emotional turmoil, sometimes bruising and sometimes life-altering but never needless, the drama of make-or-break personal decisions and exam-centre alarms in the IIT-JEE coaching hub of Kota still possesses sufficient meat. The fundamentals continue to be strong.
Each episode has at least one defining flashpoint. One of the boys faces a financial crunch and is forced to tutor a schoolboy for some extra cash, while another meets with an accident that threatens to put paid to his aspirations to take his IIT preparations to its logical end.
The third launches into a tirade - a monologue whose intensity his heightened by a camera that weaves circles around him - when the JEE date sheet arrives. To make matters worse, on the day of the exam he ends up in the wrong place. Learning, unlearning and tiding over crises is after all the name of the game for the aspirants.
Working with a script by Puneet Batra and Pravin Yadav, director Pratish Mehta casts the narrative net wider than usual and brings in elements that go a long way in throwing light on the thought processes of the coaching personnel, something that the series had not done until this point, certainly not to this extent.
Kota Factory S3 highlights the impact that the painstaking process of getting IIT and medical college aspirants battle-ready for crucial written tests and the constant harping on marks, ranks and methodologies has on Jeetu Bhaiya (Jitendra Kumar) and his colleagues.
As much consideration is given to the difficult decisions that Jeetu Bhaiya and his chemistry teacher Pooja (Tillotama Shome, whose inclusion in the coaching staff deals a blow to gender representation in a previously largely male-dominated field) must make as they approach the end of their time in Kota and prepare for one last chance at glory.
We first witness Jeetu Bhaiya in the throes of a mental low. A terrible event shakes him, and he temporarily hibernates. After his return, which naturally makes his pupils happy, he gets into a heated argument with the center's maths instructor Gagan (Rajesh Kumar) on how their coaching programme ought to be conducted.
Should potential toppers be segregated from the laggards and given special treatment? Jeetu and Gagan differ on that question and the sharp divergence threatens to drive a wedge between the two men, one of whom is in a fragile state of mind owing to matters that are of greater (and deadlier) import than the issue of pressing pedagogical decisions.
If he hadn't already, Jeetu Bhaiya discovers that it's not easy to be a "brother" and an always-available philosopher to a large group of kids going through the growing pains of learning the ropes and dealing with issues that they can't face and overcome on their own.
The physics instructor in Jeetu Bhaiya's living room is bothered by a growing seepage from the ceiling, which he interprets as a metaphor for the pain points he is experiencing. Similar to the repairman who answers his call, Jeetu may get assistance when he needs it in both his personal and professional life.
Pooja, who has a way with words and people, steps in when things get out of hand for Jeetu. That apart, he seeks sessions with a seasoned therapist, Dr Sudha Vyas (Sohaila Kapur), who provides considered advice to the man.
While Jeetu Bhaiya's troubles and Pooja's misgivings about the prospect of Kota being overrun by mechanical teaching shops - coming at a time when the examination system is a complete mess, her concerns assume an urgent edge - form significant parts of the story, the focus of the plot is still principally on the students. Kota factory S3 is about their friendships and affairs, their mishaps and redemptions, goodbyes and new beginnings.
Vaibhav (Mayur More), Balmukund Meena (Ranjan Raj) and Uday Gupta (Alam Khan), as thick of thieves, navigate the highly competitive the IIT coaching ecosystem, personal crises and their romantic (or, in one case, platonic) liaisons with Vartika (Revathi Pillai), Shivangi (Ahsaas Channa) and Meenal (Urvi Singh).
Each of the three males faces distractions in the shape of their infatuations, fears, and transgressions while they are all walking a tightrope, which requires unwavering attention. The difficulties they face are made more difficult by the lofty order of hanging in there.
Despite the wide range of feelings and conflicts that arise when significant decisions are thought through and taken, as well as when objectives are met or not, the acting is once again remarkably realistic. There are more disruptions for Jitendra Kumar's Jeetu Bhaiya to deal with than in the past. The actor, for his part, has amazing control in keeping his balance.
The addition of Tillotama Shome to the cast has an instantly salutary effect. As a voice of restraint, reason and empathy, her character serves as a sounding board for Jeetu Bhaiya, who stands for a combination of pragmatism and big brotherly solidarity, she delivers a sterling performance.
With one long outburst that takes the form of a prolonged unbroken monologue, besides other significant passages, Mayur More walks away with the show. But the support he receives from co-actors Ranjan Raj and Alam Khan is of no mean order. And that is exactly what a show that has lost none of the wind in its sails needed.
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