All India Rank: A refreshing take on the IIT dream
The biggest fear I had with All India Rank was that it deals with a topic that has already been dissected in detail in the popular web series Kota Factory. I also had the same fear with 12th Fail after the success of the web series Aspirants, but the movie managed to make its own mark on the UPSC dream and went on to become a remarkable success. Fortunately, All India Rank follows the same path. It succeeds in being a refreshing take on the IIT journey and is one of the best coming-of-age stories to have come out of Bollywood in a while.
Varun Grover, the director of the film, is a master of all trades in its truest sense. A stand-up comedian and a lyricist, Varun previously wrote the award-winning film Masaan, followed by the critically acclaimed Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. Naturally, I was curious to watch Varun's directorial debut and he didn't disappoint.
Set in the 1990s, All India Rank is the story of Vivek, a seventeen-year-old boy from Lucknow, leaving for Kota to prepare for the IIT entrance exam and fulfil his father's dream. Upon reaching Kota, Vivek has a hard time coping with the cesspool of a city, the academic pressure, and the weight of expectations. An introvert by nature, Vivek has a tough time adopting to an unknown city all by himself while his parents back home struggle to finance their son's education.
Unlike Kota Factory or any other content on the IIT aspiration, All India Rank focuses more on coming-of-age themes than the preparation for IIT itself. Starting from friendships and teenage infatuations to the weight of academic expectations, Vivek's struggles of adolescence become the most relatable and key aspect of the film.
The young cast does an excellent job of depicting the joy and complications of youth on-screen. The chemistry between Vivek's father and mother was the cherry on top. The screenplay is uniform in its pace. The story starts, continues, and ends at the same pace which is something one wouldn't expect from a Bollywood film.
However, the success in All India Rank lies in its understanding of adolescence. At one point in the film, Vivek and his friends sit together and talk about their dreams. When it's Vivek's turn to share, he looks lost because till then, Vivek hadn't really thought about what he wanted to be in life. In the end, he replies that he wants control of his life, be it through IIT or in any other way.
And that's what anyone really wants they're growing up – to have control over their lives and to build an identity of their own. This factor of relatability is where the true achievement of the film lies. Despite being a film about chasing IIT, All India Rank shows that our life is too vast to be bounded by institutions, tags, and academic excellence.
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