Yes, it’s true, Student Of The Year 2(SOTY2), looks like anything, but a Karan Johar film! From the colour schemes used to the kind of songs and dances, it’s unlike other Karan Johar films. It’s a mix between a Rohit Shetty film with a bold neon colour palette and some superhero kind of stunts (minus the blowing up of vehicles of course!) and a Remo D’Souza dance film! It lacks the class of a Karan Johar film. What we get instead, is a film and actors that try too hard to match up to it’s prequel. In simple words, let me put it this way, SOTY is like Instagram while SOTY 2 bends more towards Tik Tok!
The 2012 Student of the Year (SOTY), directed by Karan, had an equally over the top, unbelievable, fictional high school, but the film was fun, it had a certain charm to it, most of all, it had class and a very strong Karan Johar feel to it. The film also gave us actors like Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, and Siddharth Malhotra. While Alia was cute, Siddhart looked hot and Varun was charming. Sadly, we can’t say the same about Student Of The Year 2 .
Produced by Karan’s Dharma Productions and directed by Punit Malhotra, SOTY 2 is a high school love triangle, about two girls and a boy. But the romance is lacking in the film somehow. There’s a little bit of this, a little bit of that and a little bit of everything else in the film, so none of it comes out strongly. The film centers around a middle class boy Rohan Sachdev (Tiger Shroff) from the not so elite Pishorilal Chamandas College, competing against the rich spoilt brat, Manav Singh Randhawa (Aditya Seal) of the elite and snooty Saint Teresa College. Then there are two girls Mridula or Mia( Tara Sutaria) and Shreya Singh Randhawa (Ananya Pandey) who have not much importance other than being the glamour girls of the school! In fact the whole film is about winning the Dignity Cup for Student of the year along with the lady love, Mia.
The film is regressive in many ways, firstly it’s only the boys who take part in the games and sport events while the girls just doll up and sit and cheer for them! There is a scene where Tara spray paints Tiger’s bike pink, just coz it’s a feminine colour according to her, at a time where our country is moving ahead and talking about and accepting same sex relationships, identifying pink as feminine is absolutely regressive.Then there is a scene where Manav challenges Rohan that the trophy as well as the girl will be in his hands! Seriously? The girls are portrayed as dumb blondes literally! With Mia confused about what and who she wants, and Shreya waiting for Mia to let go of Rohan, so that she can quickly grab him, as if he is the last man on earth!
Barring a few scenes of Ananya, which kind of make you laugh, because of the dialogues, you just wait patiently for the film to get over because it is so predictable. Everything about the film is over the top, from the sets, colours used and even the acting. There is a scene where Rohan has been called to the principal’s office, while it’s bright and sunny outside, the minute he walks into the office, it’s dark and deliberately filled with loban smoke, only to add to the drama!
As far as the acting goes, Ananya is good for her first film, while the rest try too hard. Samir Soni as the principal of the school tries too hard to be a Boman Irani, the actor who plays Ananya and Aditya’s father has no resemblance to them at all and makes you wonder if they were adopted! In short, the casting is a case gone wrong. Even though Tiger is likeable, and is a great dancer and equally good at stunts, it’s his acting skills that need to be polished still.
The only saving grace for Student Of The Year 2, is that the Summer vacations are on and parents need ideas to keep those young ones entertained and occupied, so it’s likely most of them will be heading to the theaters to watch the film. However, SOTY 2 is a school you can absolutely bunk without an excuse!
