After eight successful seasons, the Spanish drama seriesElitehas come to a glorious end, with its final season now streaming onNetflix.Carlos MonteroandDarío Madrona’s teen drama series, set in the elite high school Las Encinas, captures the teenage angst experienced by the characters due to their conflicting choices and socio-cultural backgrounds. As a result,Elitemakes way for fertile ground where the characters and their individual stories thrive and grow abundantly. Notable for its mature themes,Elitestands out for its exploration of progressive themesand the subsequent impact on the characters that the narratives around the themes end up leaving. In similar fashion, the Indian remake ofElitetreads the familiar path taken by the Spanish original. The Hindi-language seriesClasson Netflixmakes changes toElite’s setting and characters to retain the novelty obtained from exploring familiar themes against an entirely different backdrop, setting up a story that’s equally dark and rebellious in its heart.
‘Elite’ and ‘Class’ Follow Similar Storylines
Much like the original, the Indian remake ofElitefollows a group of three working-class studentswho one day find their fortunes flipped on receiving an opportunity to study at Hampton International, the elite high-society school in the country’s capital, New Delhi. As a teenage drama, one can expectClassto retain all the elements and chaos of its predecessor. But theIndian series, rightfully so, puts its own unique touchby shaping the story and fitting it into the mold of the turbulent Indian society, delving intothemes of casteism, corruption, homophobia, and inequality, both religious and economic. As a result, the pivotal characters in focus not only undergo a transformational journey where they must navigate the waves of teenage politics and rebellious youth but must also fight their individual battles to survive in an unforgiving environment. All this happens while themysterious death of one of the studentsbecomes the incident which allows friendships to crack and betrayal to creep in.
‘Class’ Give the World of ‘Elite’ a Cultural Reset
InClass,thecreators give the world ofElitea cultural reset, framing characters and situations inspired by the original while also allowing the Indianized setting to flourish. As a result, the characters feel familiar yet uniquely distinctfrom their Spanish counterparts. For example, Nadia’s character (Saba inClass) faces similar challenges, owing to her religion, in bothEliteandClass. However, inClass, the challenges are unique to those faced by an Indian Muslim, and the character’s reaction to the situations appears proportional. Similarly, inElite,Marina(Money Heist’sMaría Pedraza)develops a close relationship, which is also sexual in nature, with brothers Samuel (Itzan Escamilla) and Nano (Jaime Lorente). Also, Marina is shown to be fighting HIV in the show. On the other hand, the Indian counterpart of Marina, Suhani Ahuja (Anjali Sivaraman) shares a different relationship with Dheeraj, the younger brother (Piyush Khati) inClass. This change aligns with the character and the expectations from her as per the Indian setting. Also, inClass, Suhani suffers from drug abuse, which ultimately leads her to a murky path.
Classleverages its distinct socio-cultural settingto amplify the conflict too. In the Indian remake, the three main characters are from humble backgrounds and not only feel the impact of the class difference between them and their “elite” classmates, but also the gripping effect of the other layers of complexities around them.Saba’s traditional upbringing in a Muslim household becomes an obstaclein the way of her dreams and her self-realization. Dheeraj, who hails from a supposedly lower caste, becomes the target of his upper-caste classmates quite often, so much so that his otherwise academic brilliance fails to outshine the looming shadow resulting from the caste differences. The series achieves great finesse in translating the conflicts of Indian society into the lives of the group of characters that take the story forward inClass.
In ‘Class,’ the Conflict Is More Deeply Rooted in Its Setting
InClass, the challenges faced by the characters in increasing their social mobility are multi-layered. The apathy of the police and the institutions, including the school and the government, just elevates the crisis within the story. For instance,Classestablishes that six children diedwhen Dheeraj’s old school’s building collapsed due to the actions of a prominent builder in town. InElite,the loss of life is spared, suggesting thatClasstreats its characters with a brutality that’s gut-wrenching even for a world as dark asElite’s. Naturally,the stakes seem higher and the situations more crisis-ridden, evoking greater emotion for the characters, who are victims of both the situations they are in and also suffer from the consequences of their own actions and choices.
Yes,Classexperiments openly with the characters, themes, conflicts, and situations portrayed inElite.But despite being set in a new backdrop that has a distinct cultural nuance as compared to the setting of Spain inElite, Class manages to retain the elements that makeElitea success – star-crossed lovers, undying jealousy, flawed characters, dangerous choices, and an unforgiving socio-political system thriving and collapsing at the same time. InClassandElite, all the characters make difficult and dangerous choices, which, in turn, have a butterfly effect on everyone else.Classalso maintains the balance betweena raging teenage drama and a nuanced real-world commentary on the social imbalance that fuels the tensions in the story.Fans ofElitemay want to delve into this different treatmentof the same world, which thrives on its sexual, rebellious, and oft-controversial themes while celebrating everything goodEliteis known for!
All episodes ofClassare available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
