Gauahar Khan, Gulshan Devaiah, Pavan Raj Malhotra, Rajendra Sethi, Iram Badar Khan, Shivani Singh, Jaihind Kumar, and Ramkrishan Dhakad are among the cast members of Syed Ahmad Afzal’s crime-thriller TV series Shiksha Mandal. There are 9 episodes in the series, and each one lasts about 40 minutes.
Shiksha Mandal opens with an intriguing mystery involving coaching centers, people passing for others in exams, living in fear of being discovered, and the mayhem that results when you get into trouble. Even though it starts off a little confusing, it picks up speed quickly and leaves you with an interesting tale about, in MX Player’s words, the biggest education scam in history.
Similar actions were taken by The Whistleblower in 2021, and MX Player’s 2022 series is jam-packed with information about events in Bhopal’s education sector. Students and teachers who want a piece of the medical exam pie and the seedy side of the education industry are mixed in with established and up-and-coming politicians.
We spend a lot of time figuring out Vidya’s disappearance, Aditya’s struggle to find out where his sister is, and the various mechanisms at work in a con that systematically obliterates people’s lives. After a while, the mystery becomes so complex and the number of stories, subplots, and characters becomes overwhelming. Shiksha Mandal follows a similar (almost identical) path to The Whistleblower, and at times this feels a little too comfortable.
We’ve seen stories like these before, and after a while it feels a little overwhelming with so many people attempting so many things at once. The story sometimes moves at a brisk clip that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but other times it drags on for far too long. Watching Aditya attempt to be a hero in a circumstance beyond the scope of his comprehension or listening to Dhansu Yadav gush endlessly about his teaching facility makes you want to fast-forward through these scenes.
It almost seems comical to see how villainous some of these bad guys are, especially when it comes to Dhansu Yadav and the many other antagonists in the story. With their overly dramatic dialogue, demeanor, and costumes that insistently tell us that, yes, these are bad guys, they have the feel of Disney villains. To be completely honest, I think Pawan Malhotra’s character was the most realistic of the bunch, but the others are just too absurd to be taken seriously.
Table of Contents
Story
Many recent films and shows, such as Halahal (2020), The Whistleblower (2021), and Crash Course (2022), were fictitious recreations of a real-life scam unearthed in Madhya Pradesh in 2013. ‘Shiksha Mandal’ sheds light on how the education mafias got many children admitted by making fake candidates take the medical entrance exam. The narrative is multi-layered, showing corruption, fraud, cheating, and criminal conspiracy that affects vulnerable students in India.
The story is set in the cities of Madhya Pradesh, particularly Bhopal and Indore, where the pressure on the youth to clear medical entrance tests and compete with one another is probably far more than what students face in urban cities. This nine-part series opens with Aditya Rai (Gulshan Devaiah), who owns a coaching centre for medical students, and his sister Vidya Rai (Iram Badar Khan), the topper at his institute. Despite this, she is pretty anxious about her entrance test result. On the announcement day, Vidya is abducted, and her friend Rahul Somani (Gaurav Singh), the son of a prominent politician, is murdered. Why is this happening, what is the connection, and who is to blame? All answers are hidden throughout the show.
This high-profile murder case is quickly transferred to the STF (Special Task Force), led by the tough and courageous police officer Anuradha Singh Shrivastava (Gauahar Khan). Soon enough, she realises that this is much more complicated than a simple murder or kidnapping investigation. On the other hand, Aditya lost faith in the police and began exploring his own leads to find his sister. During their investigation, they both learn that there is an exam mafia led by kingpin Dhansu Singh (Pavan Raj Malhotra) that traps intelligent students and forces them to write papers for weaker students. And everything is planned, from choosing the Engine-Bogie-Engine (their term for Intelligent Student-Weaker Student-Intelligent Student) seating arrangement for exam halls to forging the answer sheets and bribing officials. The show focuses on whether Aditya and Anuradha can find Vidya and even bring down this dangerous syndicate to expose this education fraud.
The viewers get to witness the kind of nexus that misuses and exploits bright students, and how this is one of the biggest scams running in the country. ‘Shiksha Mandal’ is highly relevant since it draws on insights from this society of dubious morality and wrongdoings with a high shock value. But, writer-director Syed Ahmad Afzal doesn’t manage to give the narrative the kind of edge and finesse it deserves. At first glance, it appears to be a complicated drama due to the various characters and parallel stories. The first few episodes feel disjointed, owing to the choppy editing and inconsistent screenplay. Certain subplots in the series, such as Aditya’s love story with Shivaani (Shivaani Singh) and Anuradha’s divorce from Sumeet (Suhaas Ahuja), don’t add much depth to the plot. Finally, around halfway through, the show picks up momentum, heightening the drama in the plot. After all of this buildup, the series concludes on a cliff-hanger, leaving room for the next season.
What does pass with distinction are the performances of the cast. Gauahar Khan, the fierce and no-nonsense cop, pulls it off in every frame with confidence and ease. It’s undeniably one of her best performances to date. Gulshan Devaiah’s intense act keeps you hooked. Iram Badar Khan impresses as Vidya Rai, especially in emotional scenes. Pavan Raj Malhotra convincingly plays Dhansu Yadav — a grey character with many layers. He’s kind-hearted yet ruthless enough to strike off anyone who gets in the way of his dream. The rest of the cast, Rajendra Sethi as corrupt cop Jangal Singh, Kumar Saurabh as Dr Nanhe, and Navdeep Singh as Akhtari, push the narrative forward.
All said, the story and concept of ‘Shiksha Mandal…India’s Biggest Education Scam’ injects energy and freshness into the familiar material. It has tremendous potential; if the execution had been sharper and more consistent, it might have graduated to another level. Despite its shortcomings, the series has enough to keep you entertained.
Review
Anyone’s ultimate goal should be to graduate from high school and pursue a good higher education in order to secure their future. But with the recent revelations of education scams from every nook and cranny of India, one is left to wonder: Is education ultimately a scam? Is there a way out if it is?
‘Shiksha Mandal…Biggest India’s Education Scam’ is a narrative that centers around a fraud that shook the entire educational system, shedding light on one such scam. The show, which was based on actual events, captures the grim reality of the circumstance and is relevant to the Indian educational system today.
Gauahar Khan and Pavan Malhotra, two of the film’s talented actors, and director Sayed Ahmad Afzal offer their opinions.
“They say that hope can help one survive any situation,” said Pavan Malhotra. However, when you read about how these frauds are destroying the educational system, you can only imagine what they can do to a prospective student. In situations like this, all we can do is speak up and let them know we’re there for them, even if it’s through a web series. A program like Shiksha Mandal will expose some scams that are similar and, hopefully, inspire change in India’s educational system.
“I’m so proud of the success stories of Indians around the world with their educational backgrounds from India,” Gauahar Khan continues. We have the best education system in the world, but some elements of it, as well as the disturbing news we read every day about ongoing scams to complete even the most basic education, and the evil intentions of some people, shake one up. Some of these issues are brought to light by the show Shiksha Mandal. Being given the chance to portray such a strong character—my first as a cop—makes me incredibly happy and proud. I eagerly anticipate people watching it.
“One of the dangerous things to have occurred in the education sector is the scam of producing doctors unworthy of the profession and through various fraudulent means. And despite the fact that authorities have made a lot of effort to stop the fraud, it continues to occur. More drastic measures are needed because this scam’s roots in the education industry have grown deeper over time. It is even more important to get rid of the threat as soon as possible because our society values doctors so highly. When I first heard the idea from my Producer Piyush Gupta, I was quite intrigued by the world of con artists connected with the scam. I considered what would set Shiksha Mandal apart from other movies and web series that have been inspired by con artists. Then I had the idea to show how a single scam affected each of the different social classes—the Niche Rich, the Middle Class, and the Working Class. Shiksha Mandal has a higher emotional quotient as a result. Since the debut of Shiksha Mandal’s first image, there have been a plethora of instances of fake doctors being produced across the nation, which has been quite a coincidence. Sayed Ahmad Afzal continued, “The scam is still going strong and is continually updating itself with the goal of finding holes in the system.
“Shiksha Mandal” will reveal corruption, fraud, cheating, and criminal conspiracy that affects vulnerable students in India thanks to its socially relevant premise and equally talented cast. Gulshan Devaiah, Gauahar Khan, and Pavan Malhotra play the main characters in the Syed Ahmad Afzal-directed film, which will soon be made available on an OTT platform.
