Aspirants: Pre...Mains... Aur Life
On: YouTube
Creators: Arunabh Kumar, Shreyans Pandey
Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Shivankit Singh Parihar, Abhilash Thapliyal
Rating: ***1/5

This series from the youth collective TVF is in many ways a worthy successor to the chilling/iconic Kota Factory (2019). As compliments go, that’s humongous praise. That both shows are, from a commercial intent, simply an extended advertising campaign for an online tutorial service (Unacademy) — the product placement that repeatedly tests patience for an otherwise pliant viewer — is just the sad part of the analogy.

The great news is how remarkably/realistically the show studies the lives of the universal young — coping with India’s education system. Which is essentially an examination system. And so it works equally well, if you’re old — there’s much nostalgia to be derived. If not, it’s almost your life, before the small screen. 
Old Rajinder Nagar as a coaching colony in Delhi is to the UPSC (IAS entrance) exam, what the mega-monastery Kota is to IIT aspirants. What’s true for JEE, as for UPSC, is that it’s not merely an exam. As most middle-class Indians will know, it’s a lifestyle — more than a sub-culture, only less than religion.