Student of the Year

About the film

Student of the Year is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama film directed by Karan Johar, written by Rensil D'Silva and Niranjan Iyengar with an uncredited story by Johar, and produced by Dharma Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment. The film stars debutantes Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan with an ensemble supporting cast consisting of Rishi Kapoor, Ronit Roy, Sahil Anand, Manjot Singh, Ram Kapoor and Farida Jalal, while former child artists Sana Saeed and Kayoze Irani, whose father Boman appears in a brief role, make their screen debuts as adults. The music was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, while cinematography and editing were handled by Ayananka Bose and Deepa Bhatia.

Student of the Year was released on 19 October 2012 in India and emerged as a commercial success at the box office. It received mixed reviews from critics with praise for its cast performances, technical aspects, direction and music, but criticized its script. At the 58th Filmfare Awards, Student of the Year received 4 nominations including Best Male Debut (Malhotra and Dhawan) and Best Female Debut (Bhatt), and won the R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent (Neeti Mohan for "Ishq Wala Love").

Plot

At the esteemed St. Teresa's College, Rohan "Ro" Nanda is the handsome, rich, and popular younger son of its trustee, Ashok Nanda, an influential business tycoon. Ashok dislikes Ro’s passion for music and wants him to become a businessman like his elder son, Ajay. Shanaya Singhania, a beautiful, rich, and popular girl at college, is Rohan’s girlfriend and feels dissatisfied with Ro's constant flirtations with her rival, Tanya Israni. Abhimanyu "Abhi" Singh, a handsome new student from a middle-class family who idolizes Ashok, soon becomes the college's heartthrob. Abhi is an orphan whose grandmother is the only person he truly loves. He and Ro initially do not get along, but soon become best friends after a football match. Ro introduces him to Shanaya, reminding him not to get involved with her, and Abhi maintains that he is uninterested. The trio eventually become close friends.

At Ajay's wedding, Shanaya sees Ro flirting with Tanya and feels betrayed. She openly flirts with Abhi, who tacitly hints her off to make Ro jealous. Abhi starts falling for Shanaya but keeps his feelings to himself. Back at the school, the annual Student of the Year competition commences under Dean Yogendra "Yogi" Vashisht. The game rounds are a quiz test, a treasure hunt and a dance battle. Shanaya slowly develops feelings for Abhi over the course of the competition. The trio passes the quiz test and treasure hunt, but before the dance battle, Abhi's grandmother becomes ill and dies. After comforting Abhi, Shanaya and Abhi kiss in a tender moment, which Ro witnesses. Ro & Abhi fight, resulting in a fallout between him, Abhi, and Shanaya. Following an intense confrontation regarding his future with Ashok back home, Ro becomes determined to win the competition. Shanaya and her best friend Shruti Pathak fall out over the competition, much like Ro and his longtime friend Jeet Khurana after Jeet asks Shanaya to be his dance partner. Shanaya, conflicted by her feelings, leaves in the middle of the dance battle and gets eliminated, while Ro and Abhi proceed to the final round.

The final round of the competition is a triathlon consisting of swimming, cycling and long-distance running. Abhi, in the lead, slows down at the end after realizing how important the competition is for Ro, resulting in Ro winning the competition. However, Ro declines to accept the award, citing personal reasons. After Ro steps down, Yogi is heavily berated by Ro and Abhi’s mutual friend Kaizad "Sudo" Sodabottleopenerwala, who rants about how the entire concept of the Student of the Year competition has always been rigged. He claims the competition broke their friendship of two years and was unfair to people like him, who were not as popular and attractive as Abhi or Ro. This causes Yogi to retire eventually. The students soon graduate and lose contact with each other.

Production

On 5 January 2011, both Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan uploaded the film's first poster on Twitter. The film marks the debuts of former model Sidharth Malhotra along with Alia Bhatt, daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, son of director David Dhawan, Kayoze Irani, son of Boman Irani, and as an adult, Sana Saeed, who portrayed Khan's screen daughter, in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Johar's debut in Hindi cinema. This is the first Karan Johar film without Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role.

Malhotra and Dhawan had previously worked as assistant directors under Johar during the making of My Name Is Khan (2010).

The first official trailer was released on 2 August 2012. Johar later tweeted that the film will be released on 19 October 2012.

Marketing and release

The film targeted viewers with contest-based marketing.

Tata Motors, the on-ground promotion partner for the film, launched the 'Nano Student of the Year' contest judging students on academics, culture, sports, and social life. The top 8 finalists competed for the 'Nano Student of the Year' title.

The makers partnered with FedEx Express announcing a special 'FedEx Student Offer' and launch of 'FedEx International Student of the Year' campaign. It was aimed at individuals in India applying for higher education abroad.

Key details