Spoilt rich kids coming together to tear apart the newly enrolled students from humble backgrounds in an elite school is the gist of the Netflix series “Class.” Adapted from the Netflix Spanish show “Elite,” “Class” follows the same storyline with a fresh appeal. Created by Ashim Ahluwalia, the high school teen drama was promising to begin with, but as it progressed, it became tedious to watch. Just as much as “Class” is about class struggle, it also brings caste politics to the table. The series comments on politics through the struggles of the underprivileged Dalit characters and the Kashmiri Muslim characters. While it was a necessary commentary, I personally felt the discussion was pushed a little too far.
Throughout the series, there were desperate attempts to remind the audience about how the show has incorporated class and caste politics. The teacher who discusses social media (new media) one day conducts a class on caste, class, and privilege the next day. What’s also interesting is how the show conveniently forgets class for the sake of thirst appeal. For example, when Dhruv checks Faruq’s social media, the pictures are straight out of a model’s portfolio. Yes, people are not real on social media, but those pictures went a little overboard with that idea, and nothing can convince me otherwise. The discussion further gets diluted with the elaborate sub-plots, and of course, there is a murder mystery at the center of it, just like in “Elite” season one.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Class’ Plot Summary: What Is The Series About?
After the Nurpur Khatola Government School was destroyed by fire, three students, Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli, were selected to join the posh Delhi school, Hampton High. The fire led to the deaths of a few students, and the rest were left without a school to attend. The builder, Suraj Ahuja, was blamed for the fire, and the new admission was a way for him to rebuild his reputation. Dheeraj and Saba were school toppers, and the two aimed to utilize the opportunity that was handed to them. Balli was not interested in academics; his passion was modeling and dancing. Balli pulled favor with the local contractor to get admitted to the elite high school. As the three students entered the classroom, other students laughed and made comments. They were mocked for their appearance, English-speaking ability, and financial conditions. While Saba and Dheeraj were embarrassed by the remarks, Balli did not let his confidence down. When Saba expressed her desire to become a diplomat, the teacher advised her to apply for the Hampton Gold Scholarship. Yashika laughed at the possibility; she believed she was the only one eligible to win the scholarship. Yashika was a social media influencer and addict. Her parents were divorced and settled abroad, while she was left all alone in India to figure out her life. Since her parents had cut her off financially, the scholarship was her only way to escape and start a new life.
Suhani was irritated while watching the entire class make fun of the new students. She offered to become Dheeraj’s guide and friend at the school. Suhani always felt out of place amidst her rich peers; she was disgusted by her parents (the Ahujas) and their wealth. Her magnificent house was nothing less than a jail for her; given a choice, she would leave the house at the drop of a hat. Suhani was a rebel since childhood, and her parents sought the help of psychiatrists to get a hold on her. Her parents always treated her differently, and gradually she became hooked on drugs to numb herself. Her desperate need to escape often landed her in the worst of positions. She had to take a year off from school after a man she met on Tinder leaked her private pictures and video. Her short-tempered brother, Veer, took matters into his own hands and dealt with the guy to teach him a lesson. Suhani was sent to a mental institute for a year. After returning, everyone around her looked at her differently, and it was only Dheeraj who did not judge her for who she was. Dheeraj was a calm and composed guy who was instantly attracted to Suhani. After living in poverty all his life, the school showed him a way to escape his life and live the good life he was denied by birth. While Dheeraj was convinced that he could only climb the social ladder through education, his brother Neeraj believed that activism was the only way to live a respectable life. He always came up with radical ideas to spread the message of inequality loud and clear. He refused to accept the life he was forced to live only because he was a Dalit. He ended up in jail after leading the protest against Ahuja builders, and he was quite ashamed knowing that his brother had accepted the offer of the Ahujas and had developed a friendship with his daughter.
“Class” moves back and forth between the past and the unfolding of the murder mystery. It is soon revealed that the student who was murdered was Suhani, and everyone had some reason or another to seek revenge. Delhi police get wrapped up in the tales of the teenagers and their dramas. Since the police had found Dheeraj near the body, they doubted him, but the case was not as easy as they thought it would be. Nobody was ready to answer the question directly, further confusing the police.
Why Did Neeraj Orchestrate a Robbery?
While drinking with his friends, Neeraj decided to enter the Ahuja house and express his hatred for them. He entered the house with his friends and Dheeraj and accused Suraj Ahuja of being a thief by writing it on his walls. They escaped without any harm. Dheeraj left to attend the Ahuja function to which he was invited. He was not supportive of what Neeraj had done, but his involvement with the group was captured by the CCTV. Suraj Ahuja expressed his knowledge about it, and Dheeraj knew they would be in trouble soon. The local contractor, Mr. Chowdhury, sent his goon to get hold of Neeraj and remind him of the 15-lakh debt his father owed him. Dheeraj assumed that it must be Suraj Ahuja who asked Chowdhury to find a way to cause harm. Gathering Rs. 15 lakhs seemed impossible until Neeraj overheard Suhani reveal that her father’s safe had her birthday as the passcode. He asked Dheeraj to find out her date of birth and steal whatever he could find in her house. Dheeraj managed to open the safe, but he could not proceed to rob it. He was a man of morals, and stealing was something he could not get involved in.
Gradually, Neeraj started to develop a friendship with Suhani. He intended to learn the passcode from her but instead fell in love with her. Suhani had shown interest in Dheeraj, but it was Neeraj who stole her heart. She had always been attracted to emotionally unavailable men with a questionable past, and this time it was no different. While she considered Dheeraj, her friend, she was aware that he was in love with her, and she chose to keep her relationship with him a secret. After making love with Suhani, Neeraj went ahead and stole the money from the safe, but there was nothing inside. When Chowdhury’s men got hold of Neeraj, Chowdhury was ready to let go of him if he conducted an operation for him. He was asked to kill a man to return the favor. Neeraj agreed to do it, but when he entered the house of his target, he realized it was the peon of the Nurpur Khatola school. The man knew that the fire was not an accident; it was completely planned. Neeraj could not murder the man after knowing the truth. Dheeraj later received a video of the peon’s death. He was asked to return the money since his brother failed to conduct the operation.
When Suhani got to know about the trouble the brothers were in, she advised them to rob Koel’s house. Her father had a collection of exquisite mobile phones studded with diamonds. She knew every nook and cranny of the house, and she guided Neeraj to the room where the phones were kept. While the plan was unfolding smoothly, there was a sudden surprise party in the house, and Neeraj had to immediately escape. The businessmen were notorious for throwing parties with sex workers to win favors. Neeraj managed to escape without getting caught, but he injured his leg in the process. He tried selling the phones in the local market, but he was offered a far lower price. When he got word from a mobile store that one of the phones had encrypted data in it, he decided to blackmail Tarun Kalra. Kalra knew that the data could land him in prison just like Suraj Ahuja, who was recently imprisoned for his involvement in the school fire case after the death of the peon. He agreed to pay the price, but he wanted to find a way to get the device without losing money. Meanwhile, when Koel learned about the robbery, she was confident that Suhani was behind it. Suhani was the only person who knew the house well enough to rob it without raising any suspicion. While Suhani denied the accusation, Koel knew that she had to follow Suhani to get to the bottom of the truth.
‘Class’ Ending Explained: Who Murdered Suhani, And Why? Did The Police Find Out The Truth?
Neeraj and Dheeraj rushed Suhani to the doctor’s chamber when she suddenly fell sick. The doctor informed them that she was pregnant. Dheeraj was shocked and heartbroken by the news. He eventually figured out that his brother and Suhani were together. He could not forgive Neeraj for betraying his trust. Suhani was his first love, and he could not accept that she went for Neeraj. This created a distance between the brothers, and Dheeraj decided to cut ties with Suhani as well. When Chowdhury was taken to jail for being involved in the case with Ahuja, Neeraj decided to use the money to escape Delhi. Suhani expressed her interest in joining him, and the two planned to live together in Kasol. They had a past that they wanted to escape, and even though the road to their dream seemed risky, they decided to walk the path.
Neeraj met Kalra at his club and asked his assistant to follow him to get a hold of the phone. He had handed over the phone to Suhani before the meeting. From the videos found on the phone, we get to know that the fire was ignited upon Suraj Ahuja’s demand. He wanted to build a township for the upper class, and setting fire to the school was his way of grabbing the land. Suhani kept the phone in her locker, and Koel noticed it. She asked Balli to help her break the locker. Koel could not resist herself after she saw Balli’s bare body. She hooked up with him, and her boyfriend, Sharan, found out about it. Sharan and Koel had been together since childhood, and instead of breaking up with Koel after she cheated on him, he decided to make an arrangement. He agreed to continue the relationship if Koel and Balli allowed him to watch them when they were intimate. Balli agreed to the deal, knowing that Koel’s mother was a fashion designer. He was okay with every ridiculous request as long as he profited from the situation. Koel could not continue with their three-way situation once she realized that Sharan was attracted to Balli. She wanted to be the sole attention of both men, and Sharan’s feelings ruined her interest in it. She felt like she was used by Sharan to get close to Balli. When she discussed their situation with Yashika, it became the talk of the school chatroom, and Sharan was humiliated. The situation with Sharan got worse when Balli posted a video of an intimate moment with Sharan. All this while, Balli did whatever Koel asked of him, including breaking open the locker, but when she requested that he follow Suhani and get the phone from her, he had enough. Sharan had overheard this discussion and decided to find the phone to win Koel’s love and trust back.
As Neeraj traveled in a car with Kalra’s men, Suhani waited for him to hand over the phone. Veer requested that she stay back, but Suhani was not interested in returning to her family. She was disgusted by all that her father had done to earn money, and she did not wish to stay in contact with them. She walked away from Veer, and in the empty pathway, she came across Sharan. He asked her to hand over the phone to him, which she obviously ignored. She ridiculed him for working for Koel even when they were not together. She stated that he was a nobody at school and that there was not a single person who cared for him. Sharan could not get hold of his anger; he snatched the trophy Suhani had in hand and used it to hit her head over and over again. Drenched in blood, he went to Koel and returned the phone. Koel was shaken since she did not expect Sharan to murder someone to prove his loyalty to her. Sharan could not bear the thought of losing the one person who had been with him all his life. He wanted to prove that he could never be replaced by someone like Balli. Although scared, Koel was relieved knowing that she had helped her father. Neeraj ran for his life the moment he realized that something was wrong. He came across Suhani’s body but did not have the time to mourn her death. Dheeraj noticed his brother from afar; he rushed to the body, and the police arrived soon after. The police concluded that it must have been Neeraj who murdered Suhani since they had an eyewitness—his brother. Neeraj was imprisoned, but Dheeraj couldn’t find him anywhere. Dheeraj blamed himself for Suhani’s death and his brother’s imprisonment. He believed that had he not gone to Hampton High, life would have been mundane but better than the mess he was in.
Balli was the only one who knew the truth. He had overheard Sharan and Koel’s conversation at school. He watched Koel and Sharan pretend to be affected by Suhani’s death. The two got back together, but the truth never stopped following them. Balli blackmailed them by sending a picture of them together, with Sharan covered in blood. He surely wants something in return, but we are yet to know his objective. Sharan’s blood-soaked shirt continues to float in the pond, and the murder weapon (the award) is submerged in the water.
Will There Be A ‘Class’ Season 2?
“Class” will possibly return for a second season with panic-stricken Sharan and Koel and the possibility of the truth coming to light. Although going by how “Elite” got worse with every season, we hope “Class” finds a way to make it work. The series is unconventionally brave in its portrayal of romance and sexuality. While Faruq and Dhruv’s relationship seems to have come to an end, going by how Elite unfolded, there is a possibility of it reviving. Saba and Veer’s relationship may blossom, but this is all speculation. “Class” ends with the possibility of returning, but at the end of the day, it is up to Netflix to give the show the green light a second time.
