Cut Other’s Throat Competition

Aayush Gupta’s “Toppers” is a deep dive into the ruthless relentless warzone that is high school and Academia. The tale takes the drama of high school to the next level by making excellence an addiction

The narrative is set in the fictitious, Woodsville, the prestigious and premium institute of India. As the Crème de la crème of the institute try and one up each other to earn the title of Head Scholar, a dangerous game of snakes and ladders unravels that turns the school upside down.

High school dramas are one too many but Toppers manages to capture the struggles of formative years and devious grit of adulthood of its main ensemble in a thrilling drama with high blues and dark depths.

Competition is healthy and seen as a necessary quality to excel in life, especially amongst the large masses of India. Standing out from the crowd could mean the difference between living up and stagnation.

Education is the primary tool to make ones way in the current World of Knowledge and Intellect. In the tale Aayush presents the consequences of taking this to the extreme. When the stakes are high, when the players some of the brightest in the nation, the consequences end up being just as brutal and the fall out just as spectacular.

The hopefuls for the position of Head Scholar comprise of some peculiar characters who thread the fine line between good and evil so well that the readers will find themselves in a constant love hate cycle with these characters.

Dev Bhushan is a sports star with arrogance to match, Aniket Jain is a nerd in its purest form, Himanshu Pathak is an introvert with secrets, Vishakha Sahadev is a fighter with grit to match, Rikkhe Rajput is a prince in a democracy and Ramanujam a child prodigy with a devious streak.

Director Walia is an ambitious man who sets high goals for himself and his students. Dr Athar is the school counselor tasked with keeping the students from being crushed under the burden of those goals. As is life intentions and actions don’t necessarily correspond.

The premise of the tale is simple and the execution potent. The author laces the narrative with the subtle complexities that pay out in the most unexpected ways making for some exciting awe moments. The ganging up, betrayals, schemes and twists if not for the setting would go seamlessly into a crime thriller with rival gangs. The masterminds and their pawns are entangled in a deadly chess game with lives on the line.

I would rate the book a solid four out of five stars for going beyond its initial allure to deliver a balanced act with tones of heart and dollops of darkness. Aayush doesn’t shy away from dark themes like death, abuse, bullying, despair, drugs and mental illness.

The humour may be a little lacking but it just may not be required. A relative short read with close to three hundred pages, the book makes for a good lazy afternoon read. It is adult in its handling and may leave certain readers with a sour taste but in the end it is a tastefully handled bitterness.

By: Shirish Amirineni