In Medical Dreams, I liked the motivation cause of Shree in wanting to study medical. It is more in lines with her unwillingness to be married off at a young age, that prompted her to head towards attempting to crack the medical entrance. Shree is never a bright student as admitted by herself – scoring a meagre 53% in her board exams and never quite being interested in studies. In fact, her childhood friend Saroj (Saloni Daini) remains a better student, wanting to pursue higher studies and become a doctor. But, Saroj isn’t as lucky as Shree given how her family gets her engaged to a young groom, leaving Shree to fend for herself in the big bad world of Kota. The journey of Shree is that much more harder on two accounts – studying remains her only form of escapism fron her potential marriage, and in Kota, she is surrounded by a host of kids who have been their respected toppers and are all set to crack the medical entrance. In that regard, the journey of Shree becomes more internal than external.

The issue that I had with the drama was in the characterization, simply because there were no real traits that would make the characters memorable (other than Shree). You still recall and reminisce the characters of quota featuring a understated mumbler Meena, or a boisterous but heartfelt Uday, who were wonderful accompaniments to the character of Vaibhav. This is not to say that the characters here are bad – the problem is that the character traits are broadly stroked and generic, that don’t quite allow them to stand amidst the crowd. The characters of Dhwani (Aishwarya) and Samarth (Rishabh Joshi) are characters that may fit into the Kota setup well, but don’t really stand out because you are acquainted enough with their personal traits outside this world. You do know that they are competitors, and don’t exactly get along but you aren’t acquainted with their individual journeys like Meena and Uday, wherein Meena’s quest for IIT was to improve the economic status of the family, and for Uday, it wasn’t ever about burdening himself with the entrance exams but actually wanting to have fun in life. In that regard, Dhwani and Samarth have similar traits that make them an offshoot of the same person.

Another little letdown with respect to the characterization remains the broad strokes of the character of Subrat Sinha (Sharman Joshi), modelled on the lines of Jeetu Bhaiyya or even SK from Aspirants. What set both SK and Jeetu bhaiyya apart was how these characters may have been teachers but were one amongst the students in terms of their heartwarming qualities. The life lessons that stemmed out of the classroom was essentially a leaf out of their own personal experiences, that saw the students gravitating towards them. Here though, the analogies remain surface-level although well-intended, that just paint for a generic picture. The personal connect in these analogies is just not there, that doesn’t allow Subrat to be as iconic as the other two characters.

That said, the show does exhibit some interesting plot-points when it chooses to focus on the struggles of Shree. From having difficulty in mugging up concepts (given that biology involves a lot of roting) to having to find a way out of it, and from being neglected during her group study sessions with the reason of her slowing down the group, to also fighting her way up (and in her limited capacity), there is a definite character arc of Shree that is impressive. In fact, there is this one analogy of creepers creeping towards the sunlight that actually formulates a late sub-plot in the drama – in the scene, we are told that just like in nature, the competitive exams are well….competitive, and the one who is most accustomed to that would sail through. And so, the concept of friendship being compromised in the wake of competition was a plot-point that actually worked towards the end.

One missed opportunity in the series remained the sequences in the classroom that were few and far between. Remember how Kota Factory had so many interesting sequences inside the classroom? That was the missing link here, and something that can be focused on in the subsequent seasons. In fact, an important plot-point of the tensions erupting during an examination hall featuring Shree was also a missing link towards the end, given how there could have been a payoff at the end related to this. I did have staging issues with the final scene, on how the parents of Shree tread on the path of realisation which didn’t exactly work on two accounts – one being that their relationship with Shree wasn’t as well established, and the second being in the final exposition. Imagine the same events being played out when the eventually family of the groom arrive, and the kind of impact that would have made! This remains one of the many tweaks that could have elevated the screenplay even more, while the focus was on plucking the lowest hanging fruit.