Carlos Montero and Daro Madrona’s Spanish television series “Elite” was translated into Hindi as “Class” by Netflix India
The majority of the action takes place at Hampton International, a prominent school that the wealthy and powerful of the Indian capital’s capital send their children to.
Dheeraj Kumar Valmiki (Piyush Khati), Saba Manzoor (Madhyama Segal), and Balli Sehrawat (Cwaayal Singh), three transfer students from the working class, come to Hampton International on scholarships after their old school burns down.
Their students’ initial animosity quickly transforms into a complex combination of disdain, sexual exploration, distrust, and yearning. We can answer your question about whether Delhi indeed has a Hampton International School.
Also Read: Class: Dhruv, Faruq, Sharan, and Balli’s Sexuality, Plot, Review, Ending Explained and More
Class: Is Hampton International a Real School in Delhi?
No, the Hampton International School from “Class” doesn’t actually exist in Delhi. Although there is a Hampton International in Pak Kret, Thailand, it is a family-run preschool.
The pupils in “Elite” go to Las Encinas, another made-up institution. One of the series’ directors, Ashim Ahluwalia, provided an explanation of why Delhi was chosen over other locations in India, such as Mumbai, the nation’s financial hub, in an interview.
According to Ahluwalia, who spoke to Deadline, “I chose to put it in Delhi because the difference between the haves and the have nots is just so enormous and quite distinct from Mumbai in that it’s geographically separated.”
“Everyone in Mumbai kind of gets along with each other. I attended a fine school, but it was nothing compared to some of the affluent Delhi institutions where students arrive for class accompanied by bodyguards.
Ahluwalia observed the openly displayed class strife in “Class,” although not attending a super-exclusive school like Hampton International or Las Encinas as a teenager in South Mumbai. This experience influenced his decision to work on this project.
Because that is a culture he is familiar with, he stated, “I’ve always been intrigued in doing anything on kids, especially wealthy urban teenagers.
“Even if the school I attended had many differences from the one depicted in “Elite” or this series, there were nonetheless elements of class struggle there.
So even though I had never considered making a series before, I felt this would be a fun endeavour to work on.
The fact that these adaptations frequently come across as unrelatable to Indian audiences is one of the strongest arguments against them. It is a frequent criticism levelled towards the content created by Netflix India.
Ahluwalia drew attention to the unfairness of such claims, pointing out that Bollywood frequently creates a universe that is more fanciful than actual.
He claims that the kind of exorbitant riches that was portrayed on the show really does exist. Simply put, it hasn’t been displayed on screen before.
Class: Plot
The Netflix series “Class” compels you to examine how society views you and how it treats its other members in the distorted mirror that is society. Caste has plagued Indian society for centuries, and discrimination based on caste and class still exists today.
People from wealthy families still look down on and avoid becoming friends with people from other origins. Discrimination is abhorrent to the point where impressionable young children begin to pick it up. Like their elders, they talk and walk.
The series, which is a remake of the Spanish Netflix original “Elite,” explores the contrasts in class and caste between three children from less affluent households and three children from extremely wealthy families as they enrol at the former’s school.
The privileged kids find it strange to get along with the new ones, and everything at school become out of whack.
The first episode of “Class” opens with a girl being allegedly killed in an accident. Dheeraj, who is being questioned about his role in the murder of his classmate, is present at the scene of the crime. Dheeraj begins by recounting the events leading up to his enrollment in Hampton International School.
The south of Delhi, where the wealthy and privileged congregate, is far distant from Dheeraj, Saba, and Balram’s home neighbourhood of Nurpur. Dheeraj, Saba, and Balram are members of lower middle-class households and attend a school that was constructed by the Ahujas, a prominent family in the city’s real estate industry.
Due to the devastation caused by the fire that destroyed Dheeraj, Saba, and Balram’s school, nicknamed Balli, Ahuja pays for the three students’ tuition and enrollment at Hampton International School.
In addition, Ahuja’s children attend the same school. If the verdict is against him, Ahuja is attempting to utilise this to lessen the sentence in the event of an unintentional fire at the school. The kids are also aware of Ahuja’s motivations for carrying out this charitable action.
High-achieving students Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli would be able to get closer to their goals of leaving their current lives behind if they were accepted into one of the city’s top institutions. They are all aware that continuing to live their current lives will prevent them from achieving their goals.
They are aware that they are a charitable organisation, yet this admission is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Saba wants to be a diplomat; Dheeraj wants to join the IAS; Balram, called Balli, is content with his existence as a social media influencer and eventually hopes to be a supermodel.
Balli is the only one of the three who does not feel ashamed of himself or what he is. Balli only uses rudimentary Delhi Hindi, which is somewhat of a spectacle for the children of wealthy families who have never encountered a self-assured lad like Balli.
Class: Episodes
The children of the aforementioned wealthy real estate developer, Veer and Suhani Ahuja, are awash in wealth, but Suhani doesn’t feel like a member of the family because she is always regarded as an outsider. Veer, on the other hand, occasionally displays arrogance and behaves like a good boy.
He tries to balance doing what he thinks he should do with understanding his sister and pleasing his parents. The children in the class are all older than fifteen, a raging hormonal quagmire, and have no reason to be concerned about anything because of the wealth of their parents.
Yashika is competing with Saba, a new student, for a scholarship that she is vying for. On the other hand, Koel is dating Sharan, a classmate, and they are an odd couple. Despite being attracted to Balli on a physical level, Koel also seems unable to let go of Sharan.
A way to display the lifestyles of the wealthy and unperturbed, who have nothing to lose in the long run since they have their parents’ money to fall back on, is through attraction, lust, and sexual contact with other people. These children receive lavish treatment from their parents.
The only children that recognise the worth of money are Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli since they were raised with the idea that money must be earned.
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Class: Final Episode
The other main characters, Suhani, Veer, Koel, Sharan, Yashika, and Dhruv, who have already been introduced, are shocked to see academically bright children from the lower middle class enrolling in their school.
The brunt of all the jokes made about Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli is that they are all aware that these three are charity cases. The three of them don’t mind the jeers since they understand that it comes with the territory and that their primary goal in coming to school is to study hard rather than make friends.
When not in school, Dheeraj works as a server at his brother’s restaurant, and Saba helps her father with the accounting for the tailoring business he owns that produces Kashmiri shawls. On the other side, Balli is a popular influencer who works part-time organising events and parties.
Unlike the other students in their class, they have their life together. They have lofty goals, but their means to achieve them are not equally lofty. The three new kids are borderline bullied by them, but soon some of them get fond of them and begin hanging out with each one separately.
Class: Review
Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli are not surprised by the classism that the rich kids and their language exhibit, but they prefer to ignore it. The school’s swimming coach and the principal are the parents of Dhruv. He is competing with the high expectations that his father has for him to win an Olympic medal.
Teenager Dhruv wants to be anything than a swimmer because he is frustrated. He feels himself losing control of his life as the pressure from his father intensifies. Balli, who is able to see through Dhruv and make him feel at ease, and Dhruv begin to get along.
A small-time drug dealer named Faruq is introduced to Dhruv by Balli. Dhruv understands that using narcotics allows him to unwind and calm down, while Faruq provides company.
Faruq and Balli assist Dhruv in calming down despite the fact that he is new to utilising substances like this. Veer is Dhruv’s closest buddy, but he seems to have lost touch with him and is unable to communicate with him.
He becomes drawn to Faruq and begins to look him up on various social media accounts, proving that Dhruv is gay. Dhruv is a student who, out of fear of rejection, is unable to convey his sentiments or his sexual orientation to anyone close to him. He keeps his passion of guys to himself and does not tell his best friend Veer about it.
Neeraj, a relative of Dheeraj, organised a protest against Ahuja in order to put local civic authorities under pressure to bring a lawsuit against this wealthy individual. Neeraj is certain that Ahuja set the fire, which resulted in the deaths of numerous children.
His post-fire charitable activity caused a lot of controversy, but it was all just a front for damage management and his company’s PR. However, Neeraj is upset that he is being detained for instigating violence while being targeted for spreading awareness.
The discrimination committed against Neeraj and Dheeraj because of their caste backgrounds bothers Neeraj, the elder brother, more than it does Dheeraj.
Instead of engaging in caste-based conflict, which has never benefited anyone, Dheeraj thinks people should work hard in school and establish their own reputations. Only diligent effort can lead someone to achievement. Neeraj intends to murder Ahuja in order to get revenge for the deaths of the children in the school fire.
Piyush Khati (Class): Series Premiere
Piyush Khati promoting Class series on his instagram.
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Class: Cast
• Gurfateh Pirzada as Neeraj Kumar Valmiki
• Madhyama Segal as Saba Manzoor
• Cwaayal Singh as Balli Sehrawat
• Ayesha Kanga as Yashika Mehta
• Chayan Chopra as Dhruv Sanghvi
• Chintan Rachchh as Faruq Manzoor
• Naina Bhan as Koel Kalra
• Moses Koul as Sharan Gujral
• Zeyn Shaw as Veer Ahuja
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