Webseries Reviews: Kota Factory - Modern and Astute take on education system!

We at Times South are always trying to innovate and find new ways to provide you with engaging content. As part of our new content, we are bringing you Webseries (English or Hindi) Reviews as the OTT platforms have become great content drivers too. Let's start with India's premium digital content producer other than Alt Balaji, The Viral Fever's recently concluded show Kota Factory!

Directed by Raghav Subbu, who has been an assistant director and creative head on several series of TVF, debuted as director of full series, with this one. Spannend across 5 episodes, Kota Factory tries to tell the agony of a plus one student who is also preparing for IIT and JEE.

In Rajasthan, a city called Kota is completely dedicated to IIT-JEE coaching centers and colleges that give flexibility in attending these big coaching centres. Also, the city depends on the people coming from outside and staying at their hostels. Youngsters are lured to shift to the city as the place is filled with options and top level lecturers who assist them in cracking IIT dream.

Raghav Subbu and his writers followed an youngster who is late by 4 months to join in Maheswari, top most coaching center in Kota and he decides to join Prodigy, instead. There Vaibhav, the youngster's name, meets Meena, Uday, Shivangi, Meenal and his crush, Varthika. He also meets the best Physics professor that India has ever seen, Jeethu Bhaiya aka Jeetendra there. Jeethu Bhaiya becomes his life guru too as he helps him in coping up with challenges new area throws at him along with academics.

The brilliant black and white setting helps the viewers to see how 16 year olds are cornered into a world of black and white while actual world is full of colors. With Vaibhav exploring issues like being unable to adjust to a new environment, being over indulgent, having his first serious crush and learning to move on, the series is a reflection of how our education system can be limiting and torturous as the students are always put in a pressure cooker scenario.

But it doesn't ask to rebel against all this as it is impossible to change it immediately, it asks students to not loose the sight of what they can achieve without confining themselves to cracking IIT as their biggest goal in life. It gives a classic example on how always we should think forward but not backwards. The series also gives us examples on what success actually means and asks students to learn to take mature calls as the situations change.

This is one series which landed all the episodes perfectly even though there were inconsistencies in performances of lead cast. But Jeetendra as Jeetu Bhaiya held the series like a glue while Mayur More (Vaibhav), Alam Khan (Uday) and Ranjan Raj (Meena) did shine periodically. This is a must watch series from TVF after Pitchers, Permanent Roommates, Yeh Meri Family.