All India Rank, written and directed by Varun Grover, is the quest of a middle-class family to make their child crack an exam that was no less than a rat race. The film shows us both sides of the coin, as on one end, we understand the mental pressure put on the child, but we also understand the everyday struggle of a parent who is tirelessly trying to make ends meet. So let’s find out what happened in All India Rank and if our protagonist is able to crack the exam.
Spoiler Alert
Why didn’t Vivek want to go to Kota?
Vivek never wanted to go to Kota to study for the Indian Institute of Technology examination, but his father was adamant, and he was not given much of a choice. Vivek came from a humble background where his father, R.K. Singh, was the divisional engineer in the telephone department, and his mother ran a public call office (PCO), something that every kid born in the 90s would relate to. Before mobile phones became accessible to every citizen, there used to be huge lines outside the PCOs, where people used to wait patiently to get those few minutes to talk to their loved ones. R.K. Singh knew that he would have to really stretch his means in order to make his child study at a premier coaching institute, but he was ready to bear the burden. What he didn’t know was that his expectations put a lot of burden on a kid who never wanted to be where he was being forced to go. It was a new world for Vivek, and he absolutely despised the city. The living conditions were bad, the timetables were hectic, the competition was cutthroat, and to make matters worse, there was nothing to look forward to for a kid. I have always felt that a healthy culture needs to be there where, along with focusing on studies, a child gets to enjoy his life and gets to indulge in extracurricular activities. It shapes their personalities, and moreover, it reduces the unnecessary stress that is on their minds. As much as I resonate with that aspect, I believe that parents are also bound by their own constraints. Stress is directly proportional to the dissatisfaction that parents have with their own lives. Obviously, financial aspects have a role to play, but that does not always define how much pressure is put on a child. It’s just a game of expectations, and when a parent is not able to lead that aspired life, they put the burden on their child’s shoulder, hoping that he will make them cross the river.
Vivek started attending the coaching, and he realized that the entire class was filled with toppers and that it was not going to be very easy for him to crack the exam. Moreover, it was not Vivek’s dream to do engineering, and he just couldn’t picture himself getting an AIR 1. Vivek was probably waiting for people who could tell him that it was all not worth it, and finally, found two people who could give validation to his own feelings.
Why did Rinku take his life?
Chandan and Rinku were two boys who, after several attempts, had just given up their dream (or probably their parents’ dream), and they were somehow passing their time in Kota. Vivek started hanging out with them, and slowly, he was influenced by whatever they said. “Chuck IIT” became the mantra of life, and Vivek indulged in all sorts of activities that, at one point in time, he considered to be bad. Around this time, he met Sarika, the topper of his class, who loved the subject of physics. She always said that whether she cracked IIT or not, she just wanted to be amused by the concepts of physics. She was one of those people who was in the right place and who wouldn’t have done anything else—not because of the fear of failing in her life but because she was passionate about it. Rinku and Sarika came from the same school, and the former had feelings for her. Rinku could never tell anybody about it, but he always felt jealous whenever Sarika went with anybody else. Days passed, and Sarika and Vivek grew close together. Also, one momentous thing happened in Rinku’s life: Chandan broke the pact of “chuck IIT’ and started studying. Chandan did so well that he scored an even better rank than Sarika in the mock tests. Rinku was an artist; he loved playing guitar, but here he was stuck amidst physics, chemistry, and mathematics. The heartbreak, the betrayal, and life in general shattered Rinku, and one day, Chandan and Vivek found him lying on the floor of his room. Rinky had probably taken poison, as he would have thought that there was no point in leading such a life.
What changed Vivek’s father’s perspective?
RK Singh lost his job due to a silly goof up, and he was suspended from service. He had lost from every end, and his only hope was that his son would crack the IIT exam. He didn’t do it intentionally, but he put the baggage of his expectations on his son, and the poor guy back in Kota started feeling even more mentally fatigued. Around this time, there was a boy named Mohit who used to come to Vivek’s mother’s PCO, and he used to randomly call people and have vulgar talks with them. One day, when RK was just frustrated with life, he came and bashed the boy. From that day on, the boy started harassing Manju, and she really felt scared, thinking that he would do something to her. Things became worse, and RK Singh had to go to Vivek’s friend, who was now the student leader, for help. RK reached Mohit’s home together with Vivek’s friend, and he was shocked when he realized that Mohit was studying at IIT Kanpur. R.K. Singh’s perspective on IIT changed at that moment. Meanwhile, at the end of the All India Rank, Vivek came back home after a year, and he was going through a very tough phase of his life. He has seen a lot; he had seen the condition of his parents; he knew what his responsibilities were, and he knew what was expected of him. Vivek’s father came to him and told him that he didn’t need to worry if he cracked the exam or not because life was about so much more. Vivek felt very strange at that moment; his father, who had been adamant for such a long time, told him that his purpose in life was not to crack IIT.
Will Vivek Become An Engineer?
In All India Rank‘s ending, Vivek realized a simple but very important thing: nobody can ever control what happens in life, and the best thing we can do is to seize the moment. Preparing for IIT and studying at KOTA might or might not help Vivek crack the entrance exam, but it taught him a thing or two about life. It would be safe to assume that even if Vivek gets into a government college in the end, he will also have a choice to take his pick. Like the writer and director of the All India Rank, Vivek, too, might graduate from an IIT after spending years in the institution only to realize that engineering wasn’t his passion after all. As of now, Vivek has no such aspirations in life, and it is okay not to have one. Dreams strike you at your most vulnerable moments, and they change your life completely thereafter. Not everyone knows with exact certainty what they want in life until they find it. Maybe Vivek, too, will find his dreams in an IIT college, and I hope that when he does find them, he will have the courage to pursue them, like Grover, who left his IIT degree behind to become a filmmaker.
