Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2022
Seasons: 2
Director : Raghav Subbu
Cast : Jitendra Kumar, Mayur More, Ranjan Raj, Alam Khan
Kid rating : PG-15
From the TVF stable, Kota Factory initially released on YouTube and was widely appreciated before its release on Netflix. Kota is a city in India which is famous for its coaching academies and students come here from all over the country to prepare for the IIT JEE (Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Exam). This then is the “factory” spewing out worthy candidates who can hope to crack the JEE.
Most of these coaching institutes are residential schools where students come and live, and study for the JEE entrance as well as complete coursework for the 11th and 12th grades. Most of the time is spent in preparing for the JEE, the attention to required school grades (11th and 12th) is perfunctory.
Kota Factory is the story of one particular student, Vaibhav Pandey (Mayur More) who wants to join the reputed Maheshwari Coaching classes but is not able to do so. He settles for the next best option – Prodigy Classes, where he intends to work very hard with a view to switching to Maheshwari later. At Prodigy, he makes friends and talks to the teachers. Uday Gupta (Alam Khan) and Balmukund Meena (Ranjan Raj) become especially good friends and Vaibhav comes to look up to one teacher, Jeetu Bhaiyya, in particular. Jeetu Bhaiya (Jitendra Kumar) while being an excellent teacher also helps the students overcome personal issues like loneliness, sickness and helps keep their morale up.
Kota Factory is shot in black and white, and is an engrossing and entertaining show. We root for Vaibhav and are as impressed with Jeetu Bhaiiya as Vaibhav is. The writing (by Saurabh Khanna) is excellent, and the series is beautifully made. The actors do very well, the series is well-paced and entertaining, offering up plentiful drama, twists and turns, and humor. Also some great music.
Kota Factory has 2 relatively short seasons (a third is in production) and is another feather in the cap for TVF. This is a must watch!
Kidwise: Some episodes veer into adult situations, but for the most part this is quite family-friendly.
