Student Of The Year

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Rishi Kapoor, Ronit Roy, Sanjay Dutt, Kayoze Irani, Manasi Rachh

Producer: Hiroo Yash Johar, Gauri Khan

Director: Karan Johar

Singers: Shreya Ghoshal, Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani, Udit Narayan, Shefali Alvares, Salim Merchant, Neeti Mohan, Benny Dayal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nazia Hassan, Shahid Maliya, Nisha Mascarenhas, Marianne D’Cruz

Plot: Student of The Year is set in a school called St. Teresa’s, which is one of India’s premier academic institutions. Every year, the boys and girls of St.T’s compete with each other to win Student of the Year’s trophy. 3 competitions take place and the student with the highest score at the end of all competitions emerges as the winner. Our story begins with two boys Abhi and Rohan, who meet each ot her in St. Teresa’s in their final year. Soon their gang of their friends extends to Shanaya and her friends. They all become thick friends and it appears that nothing can break them until things turns upside down as Abhi and Shanaya fall for each other and the Student of the Year competition begins. As friendships are tested and passions run high, Student of The Year rushes towards an exciting climax.

Star Cast: Tiger Shroff, Ananya Panday, Tara Sutaria, Aditya Seal, Harsh Beniwal

Director: Punit Malhotra

Producer: Dharma Productions

Expectations: In the times of social media, Student Of The Year has always been a topic of memes and jokes and same is the case for SOTY 2. Youth has failed to connect with the larger than life premise of the film. BUT, the fact remains fact, SOTY was a superhit film and it didn’t happen without the paying public giving it a thumbs up.

Being a sequel, SOTY 2 also carries expectations in the industry. The expectations that just like the first part even sequel will entertain the audience and will bring in more moolah.

Impact: I watched the film in a PVR theatre and it was a 7:15 PM show. The hall was half full and SURPRISINGLY, there was not even a single person cracking jokes during the run time of the film. There was pin-drop silence which means the film didn’t overwhelm the audience and didn’t disappoint too. By the end of the film, I observed sheer happiness on the face of a person sitting beside me. He was so happy and literally cheered up loud for Tiger Shroff. Perhaps, he was able to connect with the drama and screenplay.

I personally didn’t find the film unlikable at any point. It was fairly entertaining and a pretty good timepass film. Newcomers Ananya Panday and Tara Sutaria look beautiful onscreen. Ananya especially is lovable. Harsh Beniwal gives a lot of hilarious moments. You’ll have a smile on your face when you leave the theatres.

Box Office Prospects: SOTY 2 has started off decently at the Box Office and it’s likely to get better in the weekend. The first week will be decent to good and it will start dropping from the second week due to the release of another big film De De Pyaar De.

Overall, the lifetime collections of the film can be somewhere between 70-80 crores net.

Box Office Rating: 2.5/5

Android & IOS users, download our mobile app for faster than ever Bollywood & Box Office updates!

Rating: 2.5/5 stars (Two-and-a-half stars)

Star Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Rishi Kapoor, Sana Saeed, Ram Kapoor, Kajol (guest appearance).

What’s Good: The performances; the direction; the humour.

What’s Bad: The unbelievable portrayal of students; the hamming; the ridiculous explanations in the climax.

Loo break: None.

Watch or Not?: If you’re a fan of Karan Johar’s fare, you’ll definitely enjoy all the dance-drama. Otherwise it’s just like a re-hashed version of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

User Rating:

Student Of The Year makes no qualms about being an “escapist” movie. One of the characters introduces the school where all the action takes place – St Teresa – as “…not a normal school. A world in its own.”

This is Karan Johar’s fantasy land on his canvas, so you have the rich douchebag Rohan Nanda (Varun Dhawan) who (predictably) has daddy issues. With his father (Ram Kapoor) being one of the donors for the school, he has a posse of guys who hang on to his every word. While his rich, hot and spoilt girlfriend Shanaya (Alia Bhatt) hankers for his attention, he still keeps wandering to the other hottie Tanya (Sana Saeed).

When poor-orphan-with-a-scholarship, Abhimanyu (Sidharth Malhotra) joins the school, he threatens Rohan’s fiefdom. But soon the duo warm up to each other and become good friends. Heck, Abhimanyu even helps Rohan win back Shanaya after she throws a hissy fit, though Abhimanyu loves her!

Then dean Yogendra (Rishi Kapoor) announces the Student Of The Year competition and all hell breaks loose. Friendships are threatened, fistfights follow and there is lots of love lost.

Watch the movie to find out who wins.

Student Of The Year Review: Script Analysis

The story for the movie is very rudimentary: two guys in love with the same girl and the same trophy (note: aforementioned girl and trophy aren’t the same.) Even if you make many exceptions for the story – with all the repeated stereotypes – nothing disappoints you like the pathetic explanations in the end. The outburst at the climax deserved to be much stronger. Maybe St T’s (as we’re supposed to call this institution) is based in some wonderland where everyone comes to school in designer clothes (including Abhimanyu, whom we are led to believe belongs to the lower economic ‘Bata’ club) and Mercedes Benzs to school, but this la-la-land also doesn’t require a minimum age for a driving license or for drinking alcohol in clubs/discos. Then there are the parts which are just for the sake of making you go “Aww…” like Abhimanyu’s grandmother’s illness. But the humour quotient is bang on.

Rensil Dsilva’s screenplay is alright but Niranjan Iyengar’s dialogues are pretty good.

Student Of The Year Review: Star Performances

With three big debutantes in the movie, it is a bit difficult to pick and choose, but my vote goes for Sidharth Malhotra as Abhimanyu. He’s the sweet charming boy who steals your heart with his sighs. Varun Dhawan does very well as the spoilt brat but there are a few places where he needs to buck up. Alia Bhatt ends up with a very dumb-blonde role who has to do standard ramp poses for the camera but she performs ably. Undoubtedly, Varun is the best dancer among all three.

Rishi Kapoor is perfect as the closet-gay dean. Sana Saeed only gets to pout and flaunt her body as Tanya. Ram Kapoor is very good as the latent villain. Kajol’s guest appearance is a pleasant surprise (though I would have loved it if Shah Rukh Khan had a special act as a guest teacher or something).

Student Of The Year Review: Direction, Music & Technical Aspects

Karan Johar’s direction is very good but flounders with the script. Cinematography by Ayananka Bose is sleek. Deepa Bhatia’s editing is very good. The lyrics are pretty lazy; Ishq Wala Love  gives you an idea that there’s not much effort into it. Vishal-Shekhar’s music is very youthful, and sometimes nuanced.

Student Of The Year Review: The Last Word

Student Of The Year has some really earnest performances and entertaining comedy scenes. Other than that it’s a staple Karan Johar affair: ridiculous in parts and dramatic in others.

Student Of The Year Trailer

Student Of The Year released on 19th October, 2012.

Share with us your experience of watching Student Of The Year.