Netflix loves to foster romantic relationships with teen dramas and the audiences have always reciprocated with love for the portrayal of teenage angst and anger.Classon Netflix is an Indian remake of the hit Spanish seriesElite, which explores the events in a high-locality school when three students from backward communities get admitted to the school. While the basic premise remains the same,Classfinds its world-building in the cultural differences of the Indian setting that greatly contribute to the conflict between the characters. Beyond the obvious class divide, the inclusion of caste conflict and the inherent nature of Indian society all become contributing factors that makeClassmore than just a high school teen drama.
‘Class’ Gives ‘Elite’ a Cultural Resetting
In terms of the plot,Classdoesn’t experiment a lot and sticks to the source, only making deviations when the cultural context necessitates a change. But despite the adoption of cultural nuances, the overall arc remains loyal to its source material. One instance where this cultural adoption can be noticed is when Saba (Madhyama Segal), who is similar to Nadia’s character fromElite,is questioned by the school’s principal for her hijab. However, unlikeElite,in Class, Saba only receives a classist comment from the principal who considers thehijaba sign of backwardness and conservatism whereas, inElite,Nadia (Mina El Hammani) is threatened with expulsion in case she continues wearing herhijabto school. The change seems logical considering that many schools in India allow Muslim students to wearhijab. Nadia’s greater struggle remains to hide her Kashmiri identity as she claims to hail from a different place when asked about her native town.
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In a similar vein, other characters have also been treated differently with certain plot elements completely dropped from the picture. For instance, Marina (María Pedraza) is HIV-positive inElitewhereas her counterpart inClass,Suhani (Anjali Sivaraman), suffers from drug abuse as a result of her sexual exploitation by a married man in the past. The idea of an HIV-positive girl having sex and not passing the same to her partner will not have fitted with the perception of the disease in India, which has not explored the theme much in its films and television. Moreover, Marina gets involved with the two brothers, Samuel (Itzan Escamilla) and Nano (Jaime Lorente), inElitewhereas Dheeraj (Piyush Khati), Samuel’sClasscounterpart, does not get involved physically with Suhani. InClass,it becomes obvious that Suhani is pregnant with the elder brother, Neeraj’s (Gurfateh Pirzada) child. EvenElite’sovertlysexual undertones cannot violate the sacrosanct relationship that brothers must share in India. With Suhani never committing physically to Dheeraj, his obsession and love for Suhani were reduced to a one-sided affair that makes the betrayal less painful and the possibility of a reunion between the brothers stronger.
Conflict of ‘Elite’ Is Contextualized in ‘Class’
The obvious class difference remains at the core of the conflict inClass. Any change here would have dented the core idea behind the series. But inClass,other elements of Indian society also find expression in the form of caste and religion. Dheeraj and Neeraj are from the Dalit community that face prejudice from the upper classes. Dheeraj’s caste status contributes not only to the discrimination he faces from his classmates but also to the oppression that he ends up facing from the police.
Here, the politics and reality of the country find an expression as theDalit community often end up becoming victimsof police brutality in India as well as other crimes. This adds to the economical backwardness of Samuel’s character inElite.Throughout the episodes, Dheeraj faces multiple comments from his elitist classmates about his father being a toilet cleaner — a direct contribution of the casteism in play. The innate connection between casteism and poverty also comes out here as the caste of individuals becomes a factor in determining the pace of their social mobility.
In Dheeraj’s case, even if he could one day become as rich as his friends, he will not be able to shed the prejudice associated with his surname. Dheeraj’s struggle is much more profound than that of Samuel’s and Neeraj’s hate for the elites is stronger as a combination of the casteism and classism faced by the characters. Suraj Ahuja (Ventura Nunier from Elite), Suhani’s father, becomes the face of this oppression when it is revealed that he set the government school on fire to fund his ambitious project at the expense of the lives of six children. InElite,nobody died when the school collapsed.Classnot only attempts to attract more attention to the plight of the minorities and castes considered backward by society but also contextualizes the real struggle faced by such communities.
The cultural reset is noticeable in other aspects as well, even though they may not be as consequential in the end. For instance, the police inEliteserve more as a vehicle to drive the story forward as the main characters spell out the chronology of the events. In contrast, the police inClassbecome partly complacent in contributing to the misery of Dheeraj as a result of their own prejudices.Classalso handles matters of LGBTQ differently to mold it better as per the Indian sensibilities. InElite,when Ander’s mother, Azucena, the principal of Las Encinas, finds out about her son’s sexuality, she tries to support him. On the contrary, inClass,Dhruv, Ander’s Indian counterpart, receives a different kind of support from his mother who believes that it is merely a phase her son will grow out of. An Indian mother’s perception of homosexuality becomes the changing factor here.
UnlikeElite,the nuances that are rooted in the culture find reflection through the characters themselves, just elevating the tension and oppression felt by the three students. The personal conflict generated by the character choices hit harder as the cultural setting contributes heftily to the struggle of the characters, particularly the main protagonists.Elitehas been given a cultural reset that sometimes even ends up makingClassbetter than the original as the roots of the conflict feel more deeply rooted in the conscience of the characters. Hence, their decisions feel logical in their socio-economical context.Classdoes not dare to change a lot about its source but when it does, it shines.
