Nothing wrong with mindless fun!

I HAVE to confess, I didn’t go in to watch Student of The Year (referred to as SOTY henceforth) with much, make that any, expectations. Can you blame me for not looking forward to a tennybopper film based out of a college that looks like the poshest of the posh hotels, where the female (teen) protagonist carries around varied hues of only the most-expensive handbags on this planet, where the male leads were brandishing their eight-packs and not their 8.0 GPAs.

Yes, SOTY is all this and even more, it is corny and unbelievable to the core. But it is also directed by Karan Johar and by god K Jo can make corny fun. So he gives us a story of love and friendship in the times of college: Shanaya (Alia Bhatt), Rohan (Varun Dhawan) and Abhimanyu (Sidharth Malhotra) are three different individuals looking for different things while standing on that tough road of life called growing-up. Rohan and Abhimanyu come from different walks of life, but after a rocky start become best friends. Shanaya is the most popular girl in school but is still not the happiest. Their intertwined story of highs and lows is of course what makes up the film. And at roughly three hours it’s a long film. But a flow to the story (even though there’s a lack of it) and a brilliant soundtrack ensure that those 180 minutes are quite a breeze.
There was another apprehension I went in with: three brand new actors, three young, a little boring first-impression making actors. Were we going to once again cry when they laugh and laugh when they cry (a la Nargis Fakhri).

But hold on, these guys can act. No really, they actually can. There’s something about Alia Bhatt: she’s not drop-dead gorgeous, she doesn’t have the long legs and the sculpted figure, what she does have in abundance is an endearing quality that’s part-Lolita and part-child.

Now to the most embarassing confession, but one that I’ve been ensured I wasn’t alone at: I could never tell apart the two male leads (Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan) all this time that the songs and the promos have been all over the place. They were tall and brawny and chiselled; but I couldn’t figure out anything beyond that. But yes they are different and quite so. Sidharth as scholarship student Abhimanyu is fresh-faced and very likeable. He’s also very drool-worthy for those aged between 13-30. But it is Varun Dhawan who really steals the film. Varun is a natural. He was born to filmmaker David Dhawan, and the acting gene shows. It doesn’t seem to be the first film for any of the three, which is a good thing. Because this certainly won’t be the last we see of them.

Johar’s SOTY won’t win film of the year, it won’t impress the sternest of critics or the tutting intellectuals. But come on, can’t we for once enjoy something just in the name of mindless fun?


Note: This review first appeared in the 20 October edition of FW