Last year, revelations of alleged malpractices, question paper leaks and abnormally high scores in the NEET-UG exams shocked the country. The nationwide controversy, charges, denials and the arrests that followed shook up our confidence in our education system.
Meanwhile, in another ‘planet’, rich high-school girl Pia’s top priority is to get a boyfriend-for-hire to ward off the advances of schoolmate Ayan, else it would dismantle Pia’s friendship with her childhood bestie Sahira who admires Ayan. Producer Karan Johar was dead right about the title of the film featuring this scene – Naadaniyan. The boys and girls of the sprawling elitist Falcon High School are totally innocent to the happenings in the world outside. The campus is a large hang out joint where the students are in full make-up and designer wear all day. Working out in the gym, playing football and hitting the dance floor occupies their time. And the Captain of the Debating Society gets decided by the candidate’s ‘six pack’! None of the locations have any semblance to reality – the dormitories look like hotel rooms, and the ‘middle-class’ homes are no less than designer villas. Even the script and characters look like they were dusted off from another era. Arjun Mehta’s father is a doctor, and his mother is a teacher in Falcon High, no less. And yet, Arjun is the butt of jokes just because the Mehtas live in Greater Noida. Come on Mr Johar, did you know that Greater Noida has witnessed a 120 per cent increase in property prices between 2019 and 2024? And that the Noida International Airport is going to be inaugurated this year?
Yes, K Jo’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) too was about campus capers, but the story developed into a mature romance with relatable characters. But Naadaniyaan, and K Jo’s earlier Student of The Year (2012) series, while claiming to be entirely about high school student life, mocked the very subject they claimed as the core in its blatant escapism. In SOTY the first time they are shown sitting in a classroom is in the 50th minute into the film. Academics at least figured in the contest for the titular Cup, but in SOTY 2 there wasn’t the fleeting mention of studies. In each there was this customary cardboard cut-out rich, spoilt, girl a la Veronica Lodge, who sashays along with the world at her tow, and a cliched brat of a rich guy. Here, the backdrop including the hospitals looked like they were cut out of fairyland books. Were these films just meant to be a montage of Instagram reels?
Scriptwriters would be advised to read-up on the process on getting admissions into overseas colleges. But then, this is symptomatic of Bollywood’s blind faith that the fairytales spun around the lazy young ‘n rich for whom success is a bell-boy, will work with the young audience— especially the urban ones. But none of SOTY series, The Archies (2023), Naadaniyan hit that sweet spot because there are far more real issues on the ground confronting students and youngsters. Their mind is not a dating app. Yes, they hang out but are more likely to discuss Student Visa issues in Trump 2.0 era. K Jo must learn to get out of his ‘coffee’ world.