Student of the Year movie another review by Aashna Singh
SOTY is not a new story – Two boys fall for one girl (triangle love) and compete for one trophy. The characters are archetypal – a rich brat becomes friends with an orphan boy entered into the school on scholarship base without backup but he is good looking and kind at heart like other bollywood Heroes. Karan Johar’s direction is very good but flounders with the script. It’s the presentation that attracts you and the stellar performances that grab your attention. One thing is clear – it is not a realistic 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.
SOTY is set in St Teresa’s High School (St T’s as they call it) in Dehradun, the most reputed school in the country, where students either come from a filthy rich background, or are on scholarship – the Tatas and the Batas, they say. Here kids either drive a Ferrari or stylish bikes; girls don miniskirts, designer clothes and are dressed well enough for a party each day; and flirting, dating, break ups, patch ups are all a part of their normal life. But every year, the students compete for one competition with all their might – Student of the year.
Rohan Nanda (Varun Dhawan) is a typical spoilt kid. His father (Ram kapoor) is the biggest business tycoon in the country and is a trustee of St. T’s. Shanaya Singhania (Alia Bhatt) is a glamorous but innocent young girl who has only fashion designers on her mind and comes from a broken home. Rohan and Shanaya are childhood sweethearts. Shanaya loves attention, and Rohan gives her just what she wants. But she is quite aware of his flirtatious behaviour.
Life is perfect till Abhimanyu Singh (Malhotra) enters their world with an entry like that of Hrithik Roshan in K3G . No, he’s not as rich…he is an orphan who is in St. T’s on a sports scholarship. Of course the popular rich brat has ego clashes with this small town boy, but they land up becoming best friends till love tears them apart.
Rohan and Abhimanyu are inseparable as they confide in each other, their deepest secrets. While both suffer when it comes to family matters, they are the most popular students of St T’s. Abhimanyu and Shanaya fall for each other, and hell breaks loose, all this, while they compete for Student of the year title with vigour. This movie is full of entertainments but could not leave prints behind like other movies made by karan Johor. I would not say it’s boring or wastage of time. Student’s life is much more than this movie
Alia has very little role to play, with all the attention on the leading boys. She leaves a mark with her glamorous presence. K Jo does a fabulous job in presenting her as a doll. She’s cute, got innocence look and I think she’ll have a bright future in the industry. Varun shines throughout the movie with a very a resilient performance. His dancing skills are commendable. Malhotra too has done an extremely good job and his presence is strongly felt throughout the film.
The songs are the high points of the film. Alia’s introduction with Gulabi aankhein and other songs like Yeh chaand sa roshan chehra, Radha, Disco deewane are all chart busters. The choreography of each number is quite admirable. Soundtrack is done by Vishal-Shekhar which is simply impressive and amazing. Tracks such as Radha, Disco Deewane, Vele and Ishq Wala Love all are mind blowing. The songs are refined and lively, drawing much applause from the youth audiences. The tracks are catchy and infectious. The choreography of every song is superb as well. Ishq Wala Love, the romantic track has excellent music, but could’ve been better if the lyrics made any sense.
All in all, SOTY is not something you would want to miss if the surreal setting with bubble gum romance is your calling. The performances make this film a great watch. It’s a treat for all K Jo fans and if you didn’t really enjoy Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G and other such films by the director, you can easily skip this one.
Anyway the movie was great entertainment . I love everything about it from the clothes to the characters to the set to the storyline. Everything was fabulous, even the songs
Rating: 3/5
review by Aashna Singh