Bombay talkies | A factory of dreams
Kota Factory, a promising show that highlights the dynamics of the lesser-seen student-teacher relationship.
In 2017 Biswa Kalyan Rath gave us a hard look at what’s life like inside an Indian Institute of Technology coaching centre in the Amazon Prime series Laakhon Mein Ek (LEK). Two years later, Home-gorwn online platform The Viral Fever goes a step further, taking us to Kota in Rajasthan, the heartland of the flourishing coaching business, to showcase the life of its teen aspirants in the series Kota Factory.
Early on an auto driver gives a rather apt introduction to the position the city occupies in the education industry: Yahaann aake kisi student ka selection ho na ho, par yahaan aaye bhi jiska na hua, uska toh hona hi nahi tha. Like 3 Idiots and LEK, the show also centres on three friends, only its protagonist, Vaibhav (Mayur More) wants to be an engineer and signs himself up for a fraught life away from the comforts of his home in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh.
He immediately faces rejection from the coaching centre he wants, but then again he’s in Kota where there are plenty of options. At Prodigy Classes he finds a mentor in Jeetu Bhaiya (Jitendra Kumar), a young physics teacher who will remind audiences of Robin Williams in Dead ON APRIL 13, when Johanna Rodrigues took the stage at Bandra Fort Amphitheatre to participate in Red Bull BC One Cypher India, she instantly stood out. She was the most experienced b-girl (a term for female practitioners of the hip hop street dance breaking) in the competition and the only dancer, male or female, to have a deferential smile throughout her two battles.
In an event where swagger and aggression is second nature, Rodrigues, better known as b-girl Jo, exuded confidence without bordering on arrogance. A crowd favourite, she went on to win, and will now compete against top b-girls from the world over at the world finals to be held in Mumbai in November. Winning the competition has been an affirmation that I am on the right path and shows that I can achieve what I put my mind to and work for, said Rodrigues who dropped out of Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru to pursue dance.
She first came across the style at Freeze, an event organised by Black Ice crew in 2013. What drew me to the dance was the beautiful mixture of athletics and artistry and the creativity behind each artist’s expression, she said. Now a member of the crew, Rodrigues, 22, practises five days a week, for three to four hours, at Break Brahma, a studio that she runs with another dancer. Apart from breaking she also teaches yoga.
On her mother’s encouragement she also did a diploma course from Attakalari Centre for Movement Arts to improve her physicality. B-girls still don’t number as high as b-boys in India but the scene has improved, feels Rodrigues. When I started there were just five b-girls around the country, she said. Now we have a WhatsApp group of around 30 b-girls. Most of them are beginners but the numbers are growing. Johanna will now compete against top b-girls from the world over episodes szo far highlight the need of friendship to deal with many hurdles such as inedible hostel food and pressures related to competition.Two episodes into the black-andwhite series and it increasingly looks like TVF, the name behind shows Tripling, Pitchers, Permanent Roommates and Yeh Meri Family, has another winner on its hands.
The name dropping of sponsors such as Unacademy app is a contrivance repeated far too often. It’s a minor quibble but Kota Factory promises to be a show that highlights the dynamics of the lesser-seen student-teacher relationship.
Jeetu is responsible not just to educate but also give a survival guide reality check to what it means to be in the rat race. Created by Saurabh Khanna, written by Abhishek Yadav and directed by Raghav Subbu, Kota Factory does a credible job of documenting the challenges of settling into a new city and adhering to the demanding regimen of being an IIT aspirant. Not all studying is tortuous here; solving complex questions can be fun too, especially when you have helpful roommates: the dorky Meena (Ranjan Raj) and hipper Uday (Alam Khan, also seen in LEK.
(The writer is senior associate editor India Today magazine.)