Student of the Year review

1.5 / 5

Karan Johar introduces three fresh faces in this movie which is set in a hi-fi high school. SRK’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Karan’s Dharma Productions present Student of the Year (SOTY).  

We are introduced to Saint Teresa high school in Dehradun which has the best facilities one can expect in a school. It’s in fact too good to be true. There is a gay dean and just a few imperfect students like a fat guy named Soto. The rest are all pitch perfect and straight out of a fashion show with chiseled abs, toned muscles and bikini bodies. The three main protagonists are Abhimanyu (Siddharth Malhotra), Shanaya (Alia Bhatt) and Rohan (Varun Dhawan) and you guessed it right, a love triangle slowly but surely develops between the trio.

There are countless scenes where the two male leads showcase their abs and the girls in the hall swoon in delight. Not to be left behind, Alia also flaunts her bikini body and it’s time for the guys to scream in ecstasy. A male exposing his toned body in a Hindi film seems to be a trend that the audiences have to accept, like it or not. Other than this, in scene after scene the leads move around in designer apparel and accessories.

The only point of note in the movie is a contest called ‘Student of the Year’ which is being run by the dean for the past 25 years.  The events that are a part of this contest are an IQ test, a treasure hunt, a disco dance contest on prom night (?) and a triathlon. In the final triathlon, a girl goes neck to neck with the guys and this is something even Olympic level athletes are incapable of. Women can’t perform at the same level on a sports field as the men. Guess, the director conveniently ignored this. And having a disco dance show to judge pairs of students is another joke.

How this contest takes along the main players in the movie on a myriad of emotions like jealousy, rivalry, inferiority complexes and hatred and whether all this bad blood is finally washed away in the end is the crux of SOTY.

The movie is pretty artificial and is covered in gloss thanks to the rich production values. The locations in Dehradun are really pleasing to the eye. The three youngsters who have made their debut with SOTY look superb and each of them has the star quality. But, they need to hone their emotive skills a lot. In this movie, they are required to look fab and they look the part for sure. Among them, the spunky Varun Dhawan is the best of the lot with Siddharth Malhotra having the potential to be a real sweetheart among girls. Alia Bhatt has a flawless complexion with nice features but she is just a work in progress. Rishi Kapoor as the gay dean is cute at times with his antics and crush towards the macho sports coach in the school. Ronit Roy as the coach and Ram Kapoor as Rohan’s rich dad are adequate in their roles. Why does the dad belittle his own son and have such a grudge against him?  

The only scenes that standout in the movie are the casual bonding and rivalry scenes between Abhimanyu and Rohan. The scene towards the climax when Soto speaks his heart out and terms the entire contest as a joke, is really impressive as he echoes the thoughts of the majority of the audience. Vishal - Shekhar’s music though peppy doesn’t have anything new to offer.

Karan Johar’s comeback to direction is just one grand showcase of beautiful people with perfect bodies. School kids and under graduate college kids might enjoy this movie which makes no demands on the audience’s intelligence.

FINAL WORD: Student of the Year is primarily the biggest fashion show of the year