Class on Netflix is the Indian adaptation of the hit Spanish series Elite. Just like the original, Class is set in a fictional elite high school named Hampton International. The story finds its heart in the mystery surrounding the death of Suhani Ahuja (Anjali Sivaraman), the daughter of a wealthy real estate magnate. Focusing on the complexities emerging after three underprivileged kids receive a scholarship into the high society school, Class is a worthy remake that capitalizes on its setting to present a story ridden with conflict, sex, teenage angst, betrayal, and rebellion.
When Suhani Ahuja is found murdered, the eyes of suspicion primarily turn toward her classmate, Dheeraj Kumar Vishwakarma (Piyush Khati), who was found next to her body. His humble background as compared to the other students only adds to the prejudice of the police, amplifying the magnitude of troubles awaiting him. As all the potential suspects start extending their own version of what happened, the real truth starts materializing in pieces. Dheeraj was admitted into Hampton International when the government school he studied in became the victim of a fire. The builders responsible for the fire got the remaining students admitted into different schools across the city of Delhi as compensation. Dheeraj was joined by his former classmates Saba and Balli at Hampton.
Hampton International Is Home to Delhi's Elite
As expected, Dheeraj, Saba, and Balli receive a cold welcome from their prejudiced classmates who ridicule them for their socio-economic status. However, Dheeraj catches the fascination of Suhani, who's unlike the others in her class. The only catch is that Suhani is the daughter of the Ahujas, the builders who were blamed to be responsible for the fire that led to the death of six kids who studied at Dheeraj's government school. Suhani feels like a misfit in her class as well as in her family. For respite, Suhani resorts to drugs despite her brother Veer's attempts to make her quit.
Meanwhile, Saba crosses horns with Yashika (Ayesha Kanga), who's eyeing the Hampton Gold scholarship. Yashika tasks her boyfriend Veer with wooing Saba in an attempt to ruin her reputation in school, and Veer manages to team up with Saba for a school project. Balli befriends Dhruv, the son of Hampton's principal, and takes him to meet Saba's brother, Faruq, who peddles weed. Dhruv gets attracted to Faruq as he finds a certain freedom with him that is otherwise missing from his life. Balli also catches the eye of his classmate, Koel (Naina Bhan), the daughter of the Kalras, a close associate of the Ahujas. Although committed to Sharan (Moses Koul), Koel gets sexually attracted to Balli.
For a school team project, Suhani visits Dheeraj's house to shoot a video. During the conversation, Suhani happens to reveal the code to the safe in her house's study. When Dheeraj's brother, Neeraj (Gurfateh Pirzada) comes to know of this, he tasks Dheeraj with stealing money from Ahuja's safe to pay back the local contractor, Mohan Chaudhary, who had lent money to Neeraj and Dheeraj's father. Neeraj is an activist who is on a crusade against the Ahujas. Although hesitatingly, Dheeraj agrees to steal some money to save his brother and father.
Balli Throws the Best Party of All Time
In the school, the plot thickens as Saba makes it to the final scholarship list for the Hampton Gold to the dismay of Yashika who pressurizes Veer to trap Saba. At the same time, Balli decides to throw a rave party for his classmates. Dheeraj invites Suhani to the party, but Suhani ends up drugging Dheeraj who passes out in the middle of the party. On the other hand, Veer asks for Saba's help to track Suhani to the party. At the party, Saba ends up drinking juice laced with drugs, and Yashika forces Veer to shoot a scandalous video of Saba the same night in a bid to ruin Saba's chances of winning the scholarship by defaming her with the video. While Dheeraj lay unconscious, Neeraj gets cozier with Suhani who decides to take Neeraj to her home.
After Neeraj and Suhani leave the party, the police raid Balli's party and arrest Dheeraj and Balli, along with the others such as Dhruv and Faruq. Post having sex with Suhani, Neeraj tries to steal money from the locker in the study before failing and escaping from the house. While Suhani lies asleep in her room, Veer brings Saba to his house and tries to execute his plan of shooting the video. But at the right moment, Veer is stopped by his conscience, and he asks Saba to return to her home.
At the police station, Balli and his friends manage to get themselves released. The next day at school, sensing that Saba and Veer are coming closer, Yashika reveals Veer's intention to Saba who decides to stay away from Veer. Dhruv continues to grow closer to Faruq but he struggles to perform in the swimming pool. Balli gets invited by his classmate Koel for a threesome with her and her boyfriend, Sharan. To use it as an opportunity to get his modeling career started, Balli asks Koel to invite him to a party hosted by her mother, who is in the fashion industry.
Koel's mother's party becomes the churning ground for revelations. Dhruv finally decides to confide in his friend, Veer, about his sexual identity. It is also revealed that Koel and Suhani were good childhood friends. Koel gives Suhani and Dheeraj a tour of her father's expensive mobile collection that consisted of rare mobile phones embedded with jewels. Suhani also opens her heart to Dheeraj as she gives him insights into her past.
At the same time, Neeraj, who has developed a closer bond with Suhani unbeknownst to his brother, is asked by Contractor Chaudhary with killing the peon of the government school who knew the reality behind the fire that devoured six kids. Neeraj finds out from the peon that Suraj Ahuja and Chaudhary set the school on fire intentionally so that Suraj Ahuja can take up the land for his ambitious business project. Neeraj gives the peon a lease of life and asks him to report the truth to the police. However, unfortunately, the peon is awarded a gruesome death by Chaudhary who threatens Dheeraj and Neeraj for more money than what was previously owed.
At Hampton, the competition between Yashika and Saba gets tense as Saba makes it to the final list. Yashika tries to lure the teacher in charge by boasting about her influence on the Ahujas due to her proximity to Veer, the heir apparent who's ready to take charge of the empire. Veer starts preparing to take the reign from his father and also manages to make amends with Saba, who has grown attracted to his honesty. Saba also finds out about her brother Faruq's sexuality and confronts him. Faruq finds himself disappointed when he realizes that even his educated sister is not as forward-thinking as he expected her to be.
Suhani Decides to Lend a Hand
Meanwhile, disgusted by her father's cruelty, Suhani decides to help Dheeraj and Neeraj and gives them information about Koel's father Kalra's expensive mobile collection. Showing some heroics, Neeraj manages to steal the mobile phones in hopes of selling them and paying back Chaudhary. Things get interesting for Balli as he finds himself in a weird situation between Koel and Sharan. However, much to Koel's disappointment, it is revealed that Sharan is actually attracted to Balli. Koel shares her disappointment with Yashika, who in turn, ensures that the news spread like wildfire across the school, making Sharan's sexuality the latest subject of gossip in the school and Koel separates from Sharan. However, Yashika, who was depending on Veer to be financially saved after being abandoned by her father, became a victim of her cruelty as Veer finally decides to part ways with her.
Although Chaudhary killed the peon, he had managed to give his testimony to the police before his death, leading to the arrest of Suraj Ahuja, who also run an escort racket. Suraj's business partner, Kalra, finds himself in a different kind of trouble when he realizes his phones are stolen. One of the phones even had incriminating evidence enough to destroy him forever. Her father's arrest becomes a greater reason for Suhani to go downhill as she approaches Faruq to buy more potent drugs. When Suhani is caught in an intoxicated state by the school's principal, Suhani ends up revealing that she buys drugs from Saba's brother, Faruq. Saba's chances for the scholarship are jeopardized as her parents are called to school. In a fit of anger, Saba's conservative father decides to get her withdrawn from school.
Betrayal Finds Home Between Brothers
The situation gets tricky for Suhani, Dheeraj, and Neeraj when Suhani is taken to the hospital and the news of her pregnancy comes out. Dheeraj confronts Neeraj after he finally realizes what was going on behind his back. Neeraj tries to make a sale of the phones but does not find as much success as he anticipated as the phones had trackers. However, he does find out that the mobiles had some encrypted data using which he tries to blackmail the Kalras. Dheeraj and Suhani plan to run away with the money together. After coming to know from her mother that the robbery was possibly an inside job, Koel quickly deduces that only Suhani could have been behind it.
Veer also finds himself in a tough spot as he is tasked by his father to run his dirty errands without knowing that Kalra has decided to cheat his father. When he finds out that Suhani is pregnant, he decides to chase Neeraj who was responsible for it. But the tables turn quickly as Neeraj's friend roughen Veer and his friends quite badly. Between Dhruv and Faruq, the relationship hits a dead end as Faruq's father decides to get him married elsewhere. Veer and Saba also cannot unite due to the cultural differences between the two.
Finally, Founder's Day arrives and the Hampton Gold scholarship is up for grabs. Saba's mother allows Saba and her family to attend the ceremony, where Veer failingly attempts to convince Saba's father to allow her to continue at Hampton. Suhani and Neeraj also decide that they will exchange the phones for the money the same night. Koel keeps a close eye on Suhani and notices her hiding something in her locker. He requests Balli's help to break the locker, but she doesn't find anything inside it. Balli backs off from helping Koel, but Sharan who was overhearing the conversation decides to win back Koel.
And the Hampton Gold Goes To...
At the ceremony, the Hampton Gold is awarded to Suhani and both Yashika and Saba are left cheated by their destiny as Suhani's mother uses her influence to get the decision in Suhani's favor to win back her family's lost reputation. Suhani leaves after making a controversial speech, but she is intercepted by Sharan who confronts her to get his hands on the mobile phones for Koel. The situation turns ugly, and Sharan ends up killing Suhani with the trophy. He escapes the site with the mobile phones and takes them to Koel. When Neeraj arrives to meet Suhani, he finds her dead body and quickly leaves. But Dheeraj witnesses Neeraj leaving and later gives the testimony to the police. Based on the CCTV footage and Neeraj's testimony, the police arrest Neeraj as he becomes an easy victim for the police who has been paid by the Kalras to hide the truth.
In the end, Kalras use the police to keep Neeraj hidden from his own brother, and they take a sigh of relief. However, when everything seems fine, Koel and Sharan both receive a message from someone. It is suggested that it can be Balli, who had taken a photograph of Sharan and Koel in which Sharan's shirt was stained with blood. In the message, the sender asks for something in return to remain silent. At Suhani's funeral, Balli was keeping a close eye on Sharan and Koel who had suddenly reunited. Even if the sender is not Balli, it can be safely assumed that somebody else also understands the reality behind Suhani's death. Season 2 may revolve around how this will make things more complicated for the characters as the heat is just beginning to rise at Hampton International.