Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Suchin Mehrotra reviews Adarsh Baal Vidyalay, Prime Video's workplace dramedy from the team behind Kaala Paani and Maamla Legal Hai, set in an underfunded, overcrowded public school in the fictional Delhi suburb of Tinki Toli. Kay Kay Menon plays Gyaneshwar Tripathi, the unserious headmaster who finds sudden motivation when told that principals of top-performing schools get to go to Cambridge for training, while Prasanna Bisht's Kanchan is the fresh-faced idealist whose romanticised hopes for education clash with the chaos around her. Suchin notes the familiar Panchayat template of jaded insider versus wide-eyed outsider, but finds Kanchan bland — existing mostly to underline the quirks of more colourful characters around her, chief among them Abhimanyu Singh's stern Hindi teacher Meena sir, the scene-stealer whose rocky relationship with masculinity makes him the most interesting person here.
There is real promise on paper, with writers Tatsay Pandey, Nupur Pai, Akshay Asthana and Biswapati Sarkar firing off pop culture references, silly scenarios and winning gags, from a fraudulent star student nicknamed K3G to a Jagga Jasoos-style musical sex ed class. But this is a workplace sitcom that doesn't lean far enough into either the sit or the com, and director Himank Gaur can't milk the sketches or make the most of an undeniable cast. In its pursuit of lightness, the show collapses complex themes into feel-good montages, easy resolutions and tiring life lesson lectures, undercutting the humour with bland drama. The makers have their hearts in the right place, Suchin argues, but they're in the wrong place at the wrong time. The THR Bottomline: Prime Video's Adarsh Baal Vidyalay is less lightning in a bottle and more static in a shot glass. Adarsh Baal Vidyalay is now streaming on Prime Video.
#AdarshBaalVidyalay #AdarshBaalVidyalayReview #THRIndia
Suchin Mehrotra reviews Adarsh Baal Vidyalay, Prime Video's workplace dramedy from the team behind Kaala Paani and Maamla Legal Hai, set in an underfunded, overcrowded public school in the fictional Delhi suburb of Tinki Toli. Kay Kay Menon plays Gyaneshwar Tripathi, the unserious headmaster who finds sudden motivation when told that principals of top-performing schools get to go to Cambridge for training, while Prasanna Bisht's Kanchan is the fresh-faced idealist whose romanticised hopes for education clash with the chaos around her. Suchin notes the familiar Panchayat template of jaded insider versus wide-eyed outsider, but finds Kanchan bland — existing mostly to underline the quirks of more colourful characters around her, chief among them Abhimanyu Singh's stern Hindi teacher Meena sir, the scene-stealer whose rocky relationship with masculinity makes him the most interesting person here.
There is real promise on paper, with writers Tatsay Pandey, Nupur Pai, Akshay Asthana and Biswapati Sarkar firing off pop culture references, silly scenarios and winning gags, from a fraudulent star student nicknamed K3G to a Jagga Jasoos-style musical sex ed class. But this is a workplace sitcom that doesn't lean far enough into either the sit or the com, and director Himank Gaur can't milk the sketches or make the most of an undeniable cast. In its pursuit of lightness, the show collapses complex themes into feel-good montages, easy resolutions and tiring life lesson lectures, undercutting the humour with bland drama. The makers have their hearts in the right place, Suchin argues, but they're in the wrong place at the wrong time. The THR Bottomline: Prime Video's Adarsh Baal Vidyalay is less lightning in a bottle and more static in a shot glass. Adarsh Baal Vidyalay is now streaming on Prime Video.
#AdarshBaalVidyalay #AdarshBaalVidyalayReview #THRIndia
