Suvreen Guggal,Topper of the Year

Cast : Smriti Kalra,Mita Vasishta

A girl tops her small town school with 89 per cent and dreams to study at one of Delhi’s famous colleges. That is Suvreen Guggal,Topper of the Class,a new Channel V show for you.

It’s not going to be easy of course for Suvreen as she navigates through the big bad city of Delhi and the ‘happening’ DPSC (short for Devendra pratap Singh College — we wonder why the makers have let ‘Pratap’ go in lower case) where kids from rich families strut around wearing a smirk,where any small townie is labelled LS or Low Standard but where a tough disciplinarian principal runs the show. It isn’t going to be easy for Suvreen to get into the college with a meagre 89 per cent as is evident from another aspirant who says,“I got 89 per cent too but I was last in my school!” It just goes to show the circus that goes on in the present times of obscenely high cut off marks for admissions in prestigious colleges and institutes.

Suvreen belongs to a small town middle class family. She is full of hope and joy,a livewire. She has already rubbed the principal,Savitri Singh,the wrong way on her train journey to Delhi. At the time of writing,Suvreen had filled her admission form and was waiting to get into the college of her as well as her father’s dreams. It’s going to be one coming-of-age roller-coaster ride for Suvreen as she attempts to fit into to the college with disastrous results .

While the premise is nothing new,the show is still fresh and peppy. Smriti Kalra (last seen in Zee’s 12/24 Karol Bagh) plays the lead role with wide eyed innocence and a goofy grin permanently plastered on her face. She reminds us of Genelia D’Souza in the cuteness department. Then there is Mita Vasishta as the stern,unsmiling Savitri Singh who shows us what acting is all about with her sarcastic remarks. Besides the performances,the writing is sharp in places. It’s a show targetted at the youth and on that count,it’s breezy fare.

Verdict: Watch it for its freshness