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All India Rank is a coming-of-age comedy-drama about a teenager sent away to prepare for the IIT entrance exam before he has worked out what he wants. Varun Grover’s feature-film directorial debut finds its strongest material in that uncertainty and in the family relationships around it; one critic’s main reservation is that some of those family subplots slow the story.
All India Rank review: an exam story about not knowing your destination
Seventeen-year-old Vivek Singh is a school topper from Lucknow, sent to Kota to prepare for the IIT entrance examination. But being good at school has not given him a clear idea of what he wants from life. That gap—between a family’s hopes and a teenager’s still-forming sense of himself—is the film’s real subject, more than the mechanics of exam preparation.
Set in the late 1990s, the film places Vivek’s move from Lucknow to Kota in a recognisable period world. Hindustan Times reviewer Santanu Das dates the events to 1997 and notes details such as the lack of mobile phones and the nearby telephone booth used to connect home and hostel. The period setting is not just decoration: it gives distance from home a different texture, with contact requiring effort rather than a quick message.
Is it a comedy, and how reluctant is Vivek?
The film is described as a coming-of-age comedy-drama. Its comedy sits alongside the pressures and awkwardness of adolescence rather than turning the premise into a string of exam jokes. Vivek is reluctant in a quieter sense: he has been placed on a demanding path before he knows whether it is his own. The story’s tension comes from that mismatch, not from a simple refusal to study.
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That makes All India Rank a reflective family story as well as a film about an IIT aspirant. Das compares its subject area with Aspirants and Kota Factory, while observing that Grover’s film leaves room for uncertainty instead of treating a young person’s destination as already settled. It is a useful distinction: the familiar coaching-and-exam framework is present, but the central question is what happens when achievement and personal desire do not yet point in the same direction.
Performances, warmth and a pacing trade-off
Das praises the performances, particularly Bodhisattva Sharma as Vivek, and the family scenes featuring Shashi Bhushan and Geeta Agrawal. He also responds positively to the film’s warmth and its refusal to lean too heavily on sentiment. His assessment is not unqualified: he finds that some linked family subplots, including one involving Vivek’s mother and a telephone booth, feel stretched and take energy away from the central story.
That response captures the film’s trade-off. Its interest in family life gives the exam plot emotional context, but those detours can make the journey feel less brisk. Das summed up his overall impression this way: “Grover has created an immensely crowd-pleasing debut, with a tender and gigantic heart.”
Who made the film?
Varun Grover wrote and directed All India Rank, his feature-film directorial debut. The listed cast also includes Samta Sudiksha, Sheeba Chaddha, Bodhisattva Sharma, Shashi Bhushan and Geeta Agrawal. The film’s India theatrical release was announced for 23 February 2024.
Where to watch All India Rank
JustWatch India listed the film on Netflix and gave its runtime as 101 minutes when the page was checked on 20 September 2026. Streaming catalogs vary by region and can change, so check Netflix or a current local listing before planning to watch.
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