Title: Reality of a Topper (2024) Director: Priyal Jain Genre(s): Short Duration: 6mins 28sec Cast: Tanya Sharma • Kavita Wadhwan • Aditya Pardeshi Student topper Tanya (Tanya Sharma) navigates the pressures of maintaining her academic reputation and grades while learning the importance of having fun. Reality of a Topper explores the lifestyle of a student with high family expectations in the academic world. It covers themes of family, school, friendships and life. Reality of a Topper communicates a powerful message of maintaining a healthy balance between studies and having a social life outside of academics as both are equally important. In the film, Tanya often disregards her family and friends' attempts to involve her in social engagements in order to prioritize her studies. While it is crucial to focus on school, in doing so, she misses out on building healthy relationships and developing aspects of her identity that are not related to her studies. The film being an Indian production incorporates Hindi language into the dialogue which is admirable as it adds a touch of cultural authenticity to a contemporary film. Although the film gives a good message, I think the film should have also depicted the main character learning the importance of failure and how to handle setbacks. This film teaches a good lesson to kids to be studious but also keep in mind that they are more than just their marks. I’d give it a solid 9/10.