Student of the Year

SOTY is definitely not the movie of the year. Given the fact that it was directed by a maverick and talented filmmaker Karan Johar, one should keep in mind that SOTY is no Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or K3G. Storywise, the film looked like a rehash of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. It's the story of three people, Abhimanyu, Rohan and Shanaya (newcomers Sidharth, Varun and Alia) who come to terms with life in St. Theresa School (or college I don't know). Who comes out as the eventual winner in this battle of supremacy forms the rest of the story.

Newcomers Sidharth, Varun and Alia show much promise as first-timers. Sidharth looks confident though he has no background in acting. He looks fab and got good dialogues too, as is the case with most of the movies of Karan Johar. Varun is handsome and has expressive eyes. This kid could go a long way in the future. Alia is simply brilliant, given the fact that her father and half-sister, Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt are from the same acting background. She looks super-confident as a debutante and looks gorgeous too. Rishi Kapoor was annoying as a homosexual dean of St. theresa's.

There are a lot of things though which should've been well-written or explained at least from a director of Karan Johar's caliber.

1) I didn't get whether St. theresa is a school or college 2) the relationship between Rohan and his father should've been better explained. Rohan's father is a man who has all the evil intentions for his son. His character is so one dimensional. 3) too much westernization of the plot like prom night, cheerleading, speeding in the middle of the road with no interference from the cops, parties look so un-indianized that the traditional song "Radha" sticks out like a sore thumb. 4) the ending seems too abrupt and unrealistic.

The songs of the film were good but copied from old classical songs, like the late Nazia Hassan's magical 1980's song "Disco Deewane" and Mohammed Rafi's classic hit song "Gulabi Aankhen Jo Teri Dekhi" (from The Train). I certainly didn't expect this kind of stuff from Karan Johar. Did his creativity go out the window?

Overall, SOTY is definitely a one-time watch. You won't be disappointed with the performances of the three lead actors.

I don't understand why people generally gave a thumbs down to this KJo film. Either they didn't get the film or they expected too much. Okay this film was nowhere near Noble nor had great anything, but what the film has is entertainment. Come-on guys..we all live in real world with real characters with all real. In film we look for entertainment. This can be shown by many ways. I liked the film very much. The actors acted well. Well here nothing is real. Most of the things are stupid but I like something that I don't see regularly. In those 2.5 hours I need entertainment. I watched the film in theatre , I liked it then and after watching lots of time I like it now. Best of KJo after MNIK.

Director Karan Johar is known for his mastery in emotional film but this film lacks this ingredient. You can find the glimpses of emotions but not as intense as one usually expects from him. There is weak story with weakest screenplay .Dialogues are good and at places excellent. No strong logic for the competition of the Student of the year award in college. Then why they are fighting like hell, just for some personal reasons. Worst love triangle by Karan Johar. Performance wise Siddharth Malhotra is fine, in emotional scenes he excels. Varun Dhawan is thik thak as Alia Bhatt. All three have delivered their best performance in emotional scenes. Sure credit goes to Mr. Director. Rishi Kapoor is lovable. Manjyot Singh and Kyoze Irani are very entertaining. You would love to watch them, especially the performance by Keyoze in climax is superb. Cinematography and editing of competitions scenes are very weak. They didn't create the pace or excitement. One song "Ishaq wala love" is soothing . Credit goes to music director Vishal Dadlani. The makers name behind the film and publicity is very high, so film has taken a good start but moving long won't be possible. Mouth publicity won't come positive. After all its a so so film.

It would've been more apt to title this movie 'Dancer of the Year', instead of 'Student of the year', because that's what Karan Johar's pretty students do the most. They break into a jig at the drop of a hat.

From extravagant weddings to snow-clad mountains, to funky clubs, to almost anywhere, they invest every waking hour in matching their steps to a host of remixed, old Hindi film classics.

At KJo's new school, it's only the dance moves that count, and nothing else.

Textbooks, sports and any other extracurricular activities, barring the one that touches the heart, are sidelined and pitched towards the fag end of the two-and-a-half-hour race.

third class acting and zero percent logic. Only fools could like this.

STOY was one of disastrous movie ever made in recent time once again confirming that it is the content of the film that makes it watchable and not glossy and glamour look.

Student of the year tells the story of 3 friends in a school and how their life cross and influence each other to ultimately win the annual STOY competition.

Directed by Karan Johar , STOY promises all the glitters and glosses with candy floss romance which was unnecessary but fails to mark in the most important aspect - script. The movie begins in flashback describing 3 pivotal character in the most stupid way possible. For instance - Karan Malhotra's character is a middle class struggling student but he is entering the college with some high-end expensive motorbike, Aliya Bhatt's character introduction is in a night gown which is none lesser than a bikini ( was wondering which kind of female student wears these dresses in their hostel), Varun's character is still decent but not even close to reality. The biggest camouflage is that the students shown in the film wearing trendy cloths , riding on expensive cars and bikes , traveling to Thailand and they do not even look like school-going kids. ( In India , I thought student had uniform to wear) Worst is the introduction of so many songs that you will feel like pulling out hair.I have never liked Karan Johar's movies and this was an icing on the cake confirming his in capabilities. He uses glamour and expensive set decoration for his movies but never works on the screenplay. Pathetic direction is followed by terrible screenplay followed by even worst story. Music by Vishal-Shekhar is a big letdown. The talented duo has given so many good music before but could only provide 2-3 songs which can be listened once. Coming to the performances , Varun Dhawan has potential to make it big. He emotes expressively and has an attitude to become a big star. Karan Malhotra's acting was wooden. He still needs to work on his performance skills. Aliyah Bhatt looks gorgeous but thats it .. in term of acting she has long way to go. Talents like Rishi Kapoor and Ronit Roy are wasted.

Overall , a terrible movie in every context. I would suggest you to watch Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar again as it relishes the spirit of sport rather than this boring flick !! Bad 0.5 /5