Viewers who have seen and enjoyed Class of 2017 would have never believed that the sequel to it could surpass and overpower the success story of the earlier version.
But oh well, Class of 2020 has proven that it has meat, and its content and story value is its USP.
Vikas Gupta the Producer and Aarambh Singh the Director who have captained this ship knew very well how to present this series which had to appeal to the youth of today. And no better than Vikas, who exactly knows the pulse of today’s generation. And we can say that he got it spot on yet again!!
I have an honest confession to make!! The first few episodes wherein the new batch of De Nobili High gets introduced was not as engaging as the episodes that come later.
By the time you cross Episode 3, you are well and truly into the series and you cannot take your eye off it.
The character introduction happens at a quick pace and we get to meet Lucky Singh Chaddha (Abhishek Ranjan) who has been craving to see his girl Aalia (Isha Chawlaa) naked at least once. He can do anything to the extent of attempting suicide just to see a girl stripping off.
We then have Ibrahim Noorani (Rohan Mehra) who is the ultimate playboy, high on drugs and always ready to sleep with any kind of girl.
Hardik (Sushant Tanwar) seems to be the idealist of the lot, who has thoughts of being the one-woman man. A typical misfit when compared to the always-sex- craving friend set that he has!!
Toto aka Tanmay (Alam Khan) is the weakest of the lot, who only dreams of s*x but never enjoys it in reality. The fact that he has seen his parents making out in bed, has left him all the more deprived of sex.
Next, we have Ranchi (Joyeeta Chatterjee), the hottest of the girls, who not only enjoys her s*x life but also puts up an innocent look and body language at home before her mother.
We also have the guy with the best look of the lot, Ronit (Mazhar Khan) who longs to have s*x with girlfriend Ranchi all the time.
Ronit’s brother Neel (Jatin Suri) is a geek and the total opposite of what he is. And then there is Akash (Vinayak Vyas) who always comes to school with bruises and marks of being beaten up. It appears that his father beats him up, and the boy who is ever-hungry for food, has his own story to tell.
Finally, we have Priyanka (Chetna Pandey) who is the most studious and no-nonsense girl who is a loner in life without friends. She also has a dark past that comes haunting at her, which has made the earlier-full-of-life Priyanka the present sulking girl.
Later comes the abroad return Zoey (Nibedita Pal) who is modern in looks but holds on to the old school of thoughts when it comes to love. Hardik has fallen for her at first sight, but Ibrahim and his playboy charm seems to have the upper hand at present.
The story moves on at a crisp and interesting pace with the dark chambers of each and every student coming to the fore.
Well, I have seen many movies wherein sacrifices in love has been the USP of great friendships. But we are in the era of 2020, wherein the thickest of friends Ibrahim and Hardik compete with each other for the girl Zoey. While Hardik is genuinely in love with her, for Ibrahim, she is just another girl to sleep with. The 45 minutes challenge of Ibrahim for Hardik was a scene-stealer. And Ibrahim’s approach soon after time runs out, is simply appalling. Our heart goes out for Hardik here!!
Priyanka’s silence, her loneliness and the narrative that runs past her fun-loving past wherein she had lots of friends, makes me all the more curious about her past.
Her interaction with her earlier buddy Manik makes me ponder more about that one night which changed the whole scenario for her. What could that be? I have a slight inclination of that being linked to her brother. I might be wrong here!!
The interpersonal relationship of every individual in De Nobile High seems jinxed. Ranchi who drops her skirt down for lover boy Ronit is probably double-crossing him. Ibrahim who keeps slipping in pills to get high in s*x is sure to face problems, either from Hardik or any of the girls as the episodes go by.
Hardik surely shows the pain of being defeated in love, with Zoey slipping out of his hand, and getting drawn more towards Ibrahim. It will be interesting to see how the love triangle takes shape.
Aliya seems to be satisfied pretending to be Toto’s love interest as of now. And for Toto who can really not be a man, he is happy to lock hands (not allowed to lock lips) with Aliya.
There is something very intriguing about Neel who in fact wanted to shoot himself down, and was stopped by Ibrahim.
Priyanka’s past seems to have a connection with Aliya and maybe, Hardik but I am not sure of the second part as of now. But what is really engaging is that the girl has a nicety in her, and does not want any man to kill himself, not just because he could not see a girl naked (you know what we are referring to, if you have seen the episodes).
The story is now tantalizingly poised with a gun shoot that happens (with the gun that Akash had picked up when Neel tried to shoot himself down) when Akash points the gun at his father.
Is it Akash’s father who is dead? Why did Ibrahim do what he did with the gun? Will Priyanka, who is the only witness to Ibrahim deleting the CCTV footage open up?
A lot of questions left unanswered at this phase, after 11 episodes have been streamed.
The plot has been engaging, intriguing for sure. And there is a certain belief that the story ahead is surely going to turn the tables for many characters in the series.
Coming to performances, it is refreshing to see Rohan Mehra play the character that he is essaying here. From being the goody boy in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Rohan has challenged himself in this role.
I am really impressed with the performance of Sushant Tanwar and Alam Khan. Chetna has not had much of expressive role play in the series so far, but it will be interesting to see her performance in the narrative ahead. Joyeeta, Isha and Mazhar are good in their roles, and so is Nibedita.
Coming to the senior cast in the series, it is Nausheen Ali Sardar’s comeback in this series that I looked forward to seeing the most. As the mom who dares to go for a dinner date with the same boy who had taken her daughter along, Nausheen has played her part well. However, we are so used to seeing her in the seedhi-saadhi roles on TV, that this comes across as a huge and bold step for the actor.
Rushad Rana has not had much to do and we look forward to seeing his presence in the upcoming episodes.
One thing that did not come across well was the fact that Lucky was asked to move out of the school owing to a candidate deciding to join, after initially dropping out (assume that is Zoey). In that case when Lucky was asked to go out, how come Ranchi’s sister Palak did get in and bag a seat later? This left me spellbound.
Coming to Lucky, I wish the audience got to see more of him. And I really hope he stages a comeback into the school as he holds quite a big secret in his chest on what happened after he tried to commit suicide.
The story has played a key factor in keeping me glued to watching it till now. And I hope it continues to do the same as more episodes get streaming.
Class of 2020 is surely engaging and is for those who do not mind watching the blood rush romance and s*x that comes tagged along with it.
We at IWMBuzz.com credit Class of 2020 with 3 stars.