Class

Premise

After their local school is destroyed in a fire, three working-class friends – Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli – are offered scholarships to Hampton International, an elite private school in New Delhi. The scholarships are sponsored by the Ahuja Properties, who were at fault for the fire. At Hampton International, the three are initially ostracised by wealthy students. But as the school year progresses, their lives intertwine in a clash of lifestyles, resentments, envy, and sexual attraction.

Cast

Main

Anjali Sivaraman as Suhani Ahuja, Veer's sister and love interest of Neeraj and Dheeraj. Based on Marina from Elite. She comes from a wealthy family and has a streak of falling for the 'bad boy'. She rebels against the corrupted ways of her family while maintaining a youthful and joyful spirit.

Gurfateh Pirzada as Neeraj "Neeru" Kumar Valmiki, Dheeraj's older brother who just got out of prison, who is also a love interest of Suhani. Based on Nano from Elite. He is vocal against prevalent casteism. His handsome and dangerous aura draws Suhani in. He struggles to pay a debt from prison and will do anything to get his hands on money. He is caring and sensitive to the people close to him. He often finds himself in trouble.

Piyush Khati as Dheeraj Kumar Valmiki, one of three transfer students who falls for Suhani. Based on Samuel from Elite. A hardworking, shy, and tricky guy.

Madhyama Segal as Saba Manzoor, one of three transfer students, a daughter of Kashmiri immigrants, who is Veer's love interest. Based on Nadia from Elite. She is academically driven and holds her religious and personal values close to her. She eventually faces discrimination and Islamophobia at school and is banned from wearing the hijab at school.

Cwaayal Singh as Balram "Balli" Patwal, one of the three transfer students. He is immediately attracted to Koel. Based on Christian from Elite. A comical and carefree transfer student who tries to assimilate with the richer students.

Zeyn Shaw as Veer Ahuja, brother of Suhani, and Yashika's boyfriend, who falls for Saba. Based on Guzmán from Elite. A hot-headed popular guy at school, he believes his way is always the right way. He is extremely protective of his sister and does not bond well with the transfer students.

Chintan Rachchh as Faruq Manzoor, Saba's brother and a drug dealer who falls for Dhruv. Based on Omar from Elite. He is a closeted gay guy who struggles with pleasing his parents while living his true self. He dealt drugs to make enough money to move out. He is confident and detail-oriented.

Recurring

Chandan Anand as Suraj Ahuja

Ritu Shivpuri as Garima Ahuja

Kabir Sadanand as Tarun Kalra

Suparana Krishna Moitra as Yamini Kalra

Ratnabali Bhattacharjee as Vandana Sanghvi

Ketan Singh as Deven Sanghvi

Shahid Lateef as Yusuf Manzoor

Neelofar Sheikh as Afroz Manzoor

Vijay Srivastava as Bhagu Kumar Valmiki

Reuben Israel as Ranjit Gujral

Richista Gulati as Sulekha Gujral

Aviral Gupta as Aryan Talwar

Arshvir Wahi as Mikhail Bakshi

Darshan Pandya as Inspector Bindya

Vijay Dogra as Sub Inspector Satpal

Neeraj Khetrapal as SK Chowdhary

Rohit Khurana as Prannoy Das

Rohit Singh as Manni

D Jackson as Damru

Reception

Viewership

Class debuted at Number 1 on Netflix India's ‘Top 10 TV Shows in India Today’ list. It also debuted at Number 1 in Bangladesh while also debuting Top 10 in the ‘Top 10 TV Shows’ lists of Bahrain, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE & Sri Lanka. The series saw 27.7 million hours viewed from its release date till 30 June, which made it 718th most watched title on Netflix for the first 6 months of the year 2023.

Critical response

Joel Keller for Decider stated "Class takes the Elite formula and layers on commentary about a class system unique to India, shifting the tone of the series just enough to make it distinctive from the original version."

Tamma Moksha for The Hindu wrote "Featuring a host of debutants, the show is set in Hampton International, a private school in Delhi that boasts of giant swimming pools, coveted MUN conferences, and prestigious scholarships to study abroad — an archetype of the perfect dream school… until a student is found murdered outside the school premises and her acquaintances become prime suspects."

Tushar Joshi for India Today rated 3.5 stars out of 5 stars and wrote "If you have watched Elite then you will end up drawing multiple parallels with Class. But if you let these comparisons stay far away from your experience, you are in for a reward. Class is some top-notch writing and also some brilliant casting. These boys and girls who represent two opposite diasporas of high school life look their part."

Archika Khurana of The Times of India wrote "Inspired by the Spanish version, the series producer and director, Ashim Ahluwalia, incorporates a posh school into the picture, where most of the scenes were shot. The production values are high and clearly on par with the Spanish school to depict the lifestyle of these hi-fi students."

Udita Jhunjhunwala for Scroll.in wrote "Series director Ashim Ahluwalia creates an immersive world of haves and have-nots, of entrenched prejudices embedded in Indian culture – whether about community, class, caste or sexuality. The color palette – glossy and cool for the wealthy homes, saturated and grittier for the less well-to-do spaces, along with the music, production design, and cinematography work with the easy-breezy dialogue opposite to Gen-Z."

Sanchita Jhunjhunwala of Zoom TV wrote "To be able to understand the dynamics and what goes through by just reading is something that won't be possible as there are quite a few complex plots and subplots all going at the same time, but they are all meaningful. With so many characters, it was rather easy to have lost the plot or either rush it up, but that does not happen with this show, for everything flows naturally, even the Indianisation of the entire storyline."