Kota Factory Season 1 Episode 1 : Inventory
Kota Factory released in 2019 and deals with coaching institutes in Kota, a city famous for churning out IIT toppers and successful engineers. The show is shot in grayscale to show the lack of excitement and the colorless life of the students studying there.

The episode begins with a teenage boy sitting in a coaching institute. He has the brochure of Maheshwari Classes in his hands. In the background we hear an advertisement of the legacy Maheshwari classes. The boy looks increasingly nervous.
Scene cuts to the boy's father talking to the headmaster of the institute. His father pleads for his son's admission but the headmaster refuses saying that the joining date has already passed.
The father son duo leave the institute and go to the next one. During their Rickshaw ride, the driver gives them an overview of the city. He tells them about coaching institutes and how they act like factories producing toppers like goods. He also fills them in on the gossip around poaching of teachers in different institutes. He further tells him about the legacy of Kota: if someone comes to study here and still doesn't clear the exams then it wasn't in their destiny to be successful.
Later, the son, Vaibhav gets admitted in Prodigy institute of Kota but gets a low level batch. The headmaster at this institute assures him he will get transferred to A1 batch after the re-shuffling tests.
Vaibhav settles in his new PG and calls up his friend Piyush who unlike him has gotten admitted to Maheshwari classes. Piyush refuses to meet him saying he has extra classes. Vaibhav gets a knock at his door. Meena, another student at Prodigy introduces himself. He resides in the storeroom. Meena, comes from a poor background, and is shocked to know that Vaibhav has a whole room to himself. He later tells Vaibhav that he got admission at Maheshwari classes but couldn’t join because he couldn’t afford to pay their hefty fees. Also at Prodigy, he is taught in HIndi which he is more comfortable in.
Vaibhav learns about a famous teacher called Jeetu Bhaiya. Meena tells him that Jeetu is the pride of their institute and is considered the best physics teacher in Kota.
Meena takes him to Uday’s room, another student in the PG. Here, Vaibhav meets Shivani, Uday’s girlfriend. She comes off as an intelligent but hot-headed girl.
Next morning, Vaibhav has a discussion with Deepak Sir, the headmaster. Meena had told him last night that his batch, A10, was the worst one and their standard of teaching was very low. Vaibhav begs to be transferred to A1 but Deepak Sir refuses saying he can’t offer students special treatment.
Suddenly Jeetu comes in and Deepak immediately becomes putty in his hands. Jeetu threatens to leave the institute if his salary isn't cleared in a week. Deepak gets visibly scared, thus telling the audience the power Jeetu holds over the administration even though he is just a faculty member. Vaibhav, watching this shift in power, stops Jeetu from leaving and tells him about his batch problem. Jeetu accuses him of begging and not working hard to achieve a better batch. Vaibhav immediately responds that he was assigned this batch without an entrance test and thus deserves better. Jettus challenges him and gives him 50 questions to solve in 24 hours to prove his worth.
Vaibhav, initially giddy with joy, gets a rude awakening when he finds out the questions are extremely tough. Meena, after failing to solve the problem himself, takes Vaibhav to different students around Kota for help. Most are unable to solve the questions, while others refuse to.
At last they sit with Uday, their PG mate and try to find the questions of the paper in their textbooks. They spent the whole night gathering different textbooks around the neighbourhood to copy answers from and finally solve the paper.
Next morning when Vaibhav takes his solution to Jeetu, he immediately figures out that Vaibhav had copied the answers from books.
Jeetu scolds him and tells him that an attitude like this is the reason why Vaibhav will never succeed. Jeetu further says that he is going to be exploited here and the institute's promises of 100% selections are all fake. Jeetu gives him a lecture about not taking Kota lightly as it can make or break his life. He tells Vaibhav to accept his reality.
But Jeetu has seen Vaibhav's fighting spirit. He goes on to appreciate his hard work and shifts Vaibhav to A5 batch.
End of first episode.
The web-series first episode is brilliantly directed and scripted. The actors casted fit perfectly in their roles and the dialogues are well written from the point of view of school going kids. Jeetu Sir’s character is certainly intriguing and Vaibhav is a relatable protagonist. The struggle of rat-race for the best coaching institute did not come off as materialistic and will certainly resonate with a lot of students.
We learn from this episode that even if we are off to a bad start, working hard to change the situation is better than wallowing in pity and self doubt.
Episode rating- 5/5