Crash Course Trailer launch and Press Conference: Puppets on a chain

From ambitions, aspirations and rivalry, to forging everlasting friendships... the trailer of Amazon Prime Video’s new OTT show, Crash Course, was launched at the R.D. National College’s Hekandbai Hall, Bandra, Mumbai, on 24 July. Created by Manish Hariprasad and directed by Vijay Maurya, Crash Course is produced by Owlet Films. It is set in Kota, Rajasthan and explores the twists of student life, after leaving school.

The Amazon original stars eight fresh faces - Mohit Solanki, Hridhu Haroon, Anushka Kaushik, Riddhi Kumar, Bhavesh Balchandani, Aryan Singh, Hetal Gada, and Anvesha Vij. They come from places like Delhi, Mumbai and Bareilly. It also stars veteran actor Annu Kapoor, alongside Bhanu Uday, Udit Arora, Pranay Pachauri and Bidita Bag in pivotal roles. Annu apparently, plays the owner of some coaching class, a man with a superiority complex. He defined his role as close to that of a megalomaniac, joining the gathering through a video link. The actors playing the students were asked whether they were close to their screen personae or vastly different. Their responses, coupled with those of director Vijay Maurya (writer: Black Friday, and more; directorial debut), were a yes, a no and a partly.

Show creator Manish Hariprasad opined that friendships formed when you are in the late-teens and early twenties are the only true and lasting friendships, and if you do not forge such relationships at that age, you will never have friends. About the theme, he felt, “The student genre has opened up and we are taking a plunge too. Hopefully, we will be different and stand out.” Maurya just would not tire of praising Annu Kapoor, who he described as a gargantuan banyan tree, under which all the newcomers learnt to bloom. Kapoor, for his part, insisted that a professional actor need not have any identification with the role and must only deliver what the writer and director have conceived. But, he claimed, Maurya allowed him to go beyond the role, a privilege that Robert De Niro, Al Pacino or Katharine Hepburn may not have enjoyed.

Principal Mrs. Jagtiani, of R.D. National College, distributed mementoes to the main team. Which brings back a flood of memories. I studied in this college, R.D. National and W.A. Science College, first for my B.Sc. and then for my LL.B. (G.J. Advani Law College). This where learnt to write plays, direct them, act in them, sing in chorus, do mimicry, debate, give speeches, and win a dozen odd prizes. Much later, in 2004-2005, I lectured there to the students of new BMM course. That stint had a very unfortunate ending, but I was called again, to lecture to the BMM students, three weeks ago, by the Course Co-Ordinator. This time I was wary, and unwilling to be taken for a ride, so things did not work out.

One other art that I learnt here, in 1970, was compèring. This was to become a major part of my life, once I came under the tutelage of my Guru, Ameen Sayani. I mention this because Rohini, who is an RJ and definitely not in her teens, twenties or 30s, compèred this show. And she did it the way I would have, had I learnt that art in 2020, and not 1970. With her hand right on the pulse of the jam-packed audience, energy bubbling through, and not one wrong move, she was the life and soul of the event.

Seeing the trailer twice in succession (quite the norm), and looking at the poster, one got the impression that Annu plays the symbolic puppeteer, and the eight ‘innocent’ young adults are (symbolic) puppets on a chain.

The trailer also gives us a sneak-peek into the different facets of friendship, love, peer pressure, and competitiveness that the students undergo, while trying to score high in the entrance exam that will shape their career. It also showcases how the rivalry between coaching institutes wreaks havoc in the students' lives.

Also present on the occasion was Aparna Purohit, Head of India Originals at Amazon Prime Video, a post that she has held for well over three years. Annu gave us a VideoLink eulogy about her beautiful and infectious smile, and how did Aparna react? With a beatific smile, of course!

Prime members in India, and across 240 countries and territories worldwide, can stream Crash Course, starting August 5.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/9ebG56arooU