STUDENT OF THE YEAR -> is a karan johar movie to the core with its lavish settings, great looking actors, great music n dance, an out of the world experience in short . Its an Indian commercial cinema and the objective is to entertain and rake in the moolah which the film does well enough. The film has a story and a theme which says " even the best of friends fall apart when life pushes you to a limit when the only objective remaining is to compete and win and win at all costs" Its a story about a bunch of friends in a school which is an ultra modern ultra cool institution, who suddenly find themselves competing against themselves to becum SOTY and their worlds begin to fall apart.
The movie has some fine humor with the punches thrown at opportune moments.All lead actors being new , I went with modest expectations but rohan nanda (varun dhawan, son of a millionaire dad, played by ram kapoor of "bade achhe lagte hain" fame) impresses the most. Al...ia bhatt (19 yr old daughter of mahesh bhatt) looks great in some shots, I hope she becumes a better actress than what her sister pooja bhatt managed in her career ! Rishi kapoor is good as always, there are spl appearances by boman irani and kajol. Its a love story at the core with the setting being the school life where there is study, play , romance, crushes, jealousy, competition and heart breaks so the youngsters would well connect with the theme.
An enjoyable movie , entertaining at most times , bit slow at times, a typical K JO drama which is light hearted in its treatment, a lot different from the last movie from Karan MNIK. He returns to the campus world for the first time after his debut movie kuch kuch hota hai. Dont go out looking for a story which hits hard, go out to get entertained and u will ! A one time watch for sure. It will not score well at IMDB ratings or METACRITIC but will surely earn more than many other critically acclaimed movies. AT the end it says -> " dost to hamesha bante hain, but school aur college me bane doston ki baat hi kuch aur hoti hai" We all wud agree :) Go and find out who is the Student of the Year !