Kota Factory Season 3, released recently and trending at No. 1 on Netflix, is a fitting finale to the heartwarming series that chronicles the lives of students preparing for the IIT-JEE exams in Kota, the coaching hub in Rajasthan. Here’s why the final season of the TVF show is the best one could have hoped for.
D-Day Approaches: The Pressure Cooker Intensifies
Picking up where Season 2 left off, Season 3 dives straight into the heightened pressure cooker situation as the students hurtle towards their final shot at the IIT-JEE entrance exams. It’s an emotional rollercoaster from the get-go, with the pressure to perform, the fear of failure and the ever-present anxieties bearing down on the candidates.
Vaibhav (Mayur More) is filled with self-doubt, while Uday (Alam Khan) faces mounting family expectations and Meena (Ranjan Raj) tries to get his finances in order. Even the ever-reliable Jeetu Bhaiya (Jitendra Kumar) has moments of vulnerability. Vaibhav’s relationship with his girlfriend Vartika (Revathi Pillai) is under strain from his know-it-all attitude, which affects their group studies, and Shivangi (Ahsaas Channa) steps in to knock some sense into him before it’s too late.
Jeetu Bhaiya: Dealing With His Own Vulnerabilities
Jeetu Bhaiya remains the heart and soul of the series, and Jitendra Kumar’s portrayal of the character continues to be a masterclass in understated acting. In Season 3, Jeetu Bhaiya finds himself in a state he was not prepared for. The suicide of one of his students in the second season finale had pushed him into an abyss of guilt and depression.
In Season 3, the enormity of the toll it took on him begins to unravel. He struggles to answer calls, prefers to be alone, and when he finally decides to go back to teaching, he occasionally snaps at people around him without reason. The immense responsibility of mentoring hundreds as both a teacher and a self-proclaimed elder brother weighs heavily on Jeetu Bhaiya, particularly as he feels partly responsible for the death of his student. He does the right thing and goes to a therapist for help.
Beyond the Scorecard: Exploring the Human Cost
While the previous seasons focused on the academic struggles of students, Season 3 goes a little deeper and explores how the teachers pay a price for this intense coaching system. Newcomer Pooja Didi (Tillotama Shome), a disillusioned chemistry teacher, embodies this struggle. Her cynicism towards the factory-like environment of Kota education provides a stark contrast to Jeetu Bhaiya’s unwavering optimism for it. Their contrasting viewpoints spark thoughtful discussions about the system’s impact on the mental well-being of the students.
A Farewell Steeped in Emotions
All along Kota Factory has focused on the harsh realities of cracking competitive exams, the disappointments and heartbreak of students who don’t make it and what it takes for those who finally get their dream seat. The series finale episode sums up its central theme of highlighting the resilience that such a journey develops, instead of telling a simplistic victory-defeat story.
It is a bittersweet closure, with the goodbyes exchanged between the students and Jeetu Bhaiya leaving a deep mark for all the lessons in humanity learnt beyond the classroom that will shape their lives in the days to come.
