Kota Factory is an Indian web series directed by Raghav Subbu for The Viral Fever.The series simultaneously premiered on TVFPlay and YouTube on 16 April 2019. It is also the first black and white web series in India.The show follows the life of 16-year-old Vaibhav who moves to Kota from Itarsi. It shows the life of students in the city, and Vaibhav's efforts to get into IIT. Kota, a city in Rajasthan, is a hub for many coaching centres where students come from all over India to prepare for various entrance exams. Saurabh Khanna, the creator of the show, says that through Kota Factory he aims to change the perspective about Kota and IIT preparation which he feels has always been one sided emphasising on the trauma that education brings in a student's life.
In addition to the original soundtrack composed by Karthik Rao and Simran Hora, Kota Factory also features two songs composed by Ankur Tewari and his rock bandThe Ghalat Family.
Reception
Devasheesh Pandey of News18 praised the cinematography, art direction, sound design as well as the acting performances of the show and gave it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying that, "Kota Factory maintains an edge over other shows in the genre, courtesy of its on-point, deadpan humour and a relatably bittersweet aftertaste of existential battle that the protagonist is facing." Ishita Sengupta of The Indian Express found the show to be engaging and applauded it saying that, "The ingenuity of Kota Factory lies in its ability to deal with different narrative strands and coalesce them effortlessly." Ishita also felt that the performances of the actors, specially Mayur More and Ranjan Raj, add a lot of value to the show. Rahul Desai of Film Companion was impressed with the mature depiction of the subject at hand and praised the acting performances as well as the writing of the show saying that, "Kota Factory’s biggest asset is its writing which somehow maintains a semi-dramatic progression without compromising on the factual tone of the series." Gautam Batra of Koimoi praised the direction and the acting performances of the show and gave it a rating of 4 out of 5 saying that, "the web series has taken a very less dramatic route to narrate the story which makes it extremely relatable watch." Priyanka Bansal of The Quint praised the show for presenting a fresh perspective on the education system in India. Impressed with the acting performances, production quality and music of Kota Factory, Priyanka gave the show a rating of 3.5 out of 5 and said that, "If you are looking for something worthwhile, The Kota Factory can be a nice watch that will make you think not about death and gloom but leave you with optimism." Tanul Thakur of The Wire praised the show for being realistic and relatable but felt that the show shies away from criticising the culture of coaching institutes prevalent in the Indian society. Dilip D'Souza writing for The Caravan praised the storytelling, as well.
