‘Class’ on Netflix is a Shameless and Sexy ‘Élite’ Reboot

Let’s just call a spade a spade: Netflix‘s Class is literally a Hindi-language reboot of the hit Spanish show Élite. It follows the same initial formula: three impoverished teens are thrown into the debauched world of an illustrious prep school and soon find themselves suspects in a tragic murder investigation. There are over-the-top parties, decadent displays of drug abuse, saucy threesomes, star-crossed lovers, and cruel classist insults hurled at the new kids. Even the characters and their relationships are essentially the same. And you know what? That’s actually what makes Class so fun to watch.

The Indian version of Spain’s seediest teen soap opera embraces every detail that made Élite such a global smash hit. There’s sex, drugs, and murder, but also pulpy, propulsive storytelling. In copy and pasting the bones of Élite, Class proves why the original show’s formula was so foolproof (and difficult to recapture in later seasons). Furthermore, it reveals just how universal the allure of mixing teen drama with steamy sex scenes, a murder mystery, and class commentary truly is. If you like Élite, you’re gonna like Class!

Adapted from Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona’s original show Élite by Ashim Ahluwalia, Kashyap Kapoor, and Raghav Kakkar, Class opens in almost exactly the same way as its parent show. A boyishly handsome teen is interrogated by cops after being discovered at a crime scene. By the first episode’s end, said teen — Samuel (Itzan Escamilla in Élite) and Dheeraj (Piyush Khati in Class) — has recounted how he, a studious Muslim girl, and a flirtatious prankster were transferred to an elite high school after their local school was destroyed in a mysterious accident that was definitely caused by corporate negligence. While the trio initially struggles to fit in, the girl finds herself pulled into an ambitious couple’s orbit, the flirt into a power couple’s sex games, and our shellshocked narrator into a friendship with a troubled rich girl. The murder victim? The troubled rich girl. (Here she is called Suhani, played by Anjali Sivaraman.)

Fans of Élite will immediately recognize Class‘s 1:1 South Asian replacements for their favorite horny Spanish murder teens. Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau) and Nadia (Mina El Hammani) are now Veer (Zayn Shaw) and Saba (Madhyama Segal). Yashika (Ayesha Kanga) lords over class wearing headbands like tiaras exactly like Lu (Danna Paola) did. Even Ander (Arón Piper) and Omar (Omar Ayuso) have doubles in Dhruv (Chayan Chopra) and Faruq (Chintan Rachchh).

The amount of sameness between Class and Élite might irk some viewers, but I ironically found it charming. It helped anchor me quickly into the story and allowed me to appreciate the ways in which the show had been changed for its new setting. While Élite is ostensibly about friction between the lower and upper classes, India’s caste system makes this tension all the more explosive. In Élite, being working class is something to be simply overcome; in Class, it’s a quality that allows some kids to look at their poorer classmates as if they’re sub-human.

Class is almost exactly like Élite, right down to its love of teenaged lust. Yep, there are still sex scenes in this show. In Episode 1, alone, we watch one couple get it on in a car, another struggle with mutual release, and one kid rush out of a locker room fully nude (which also happened in Élite, natch). Boys kiss boys. Girls kiss boys in front of their boyfriends. And boys catch feelings trying to seduce girls at the behest of their actual girlfriends. This is just Élite! But in Delhi!

If you’ve been lukewarm on recent seasons of Élite, Class recaptures what made the first season of the show so great by, you know, just repeating that whole story. So, yeah, I found myself swooning all over again for Nadia/Guzmán, I mean Saba/Veer. I was relieved that our new boy-on-boy coupling wasted no time hooking up. I loved that Class never shied away from the best beats of Élite‘s first season, but rushed into them. (And it doesn’t hurt that Class is gorgeously produced and shot with more cinematographic eloquence than Élite ever has been.)

Class is an international reboot done right.