Student of the Year 2
Student of the Year 2 is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language teen romantic drama film written by Arshad Sayed and directed by Punit Malhotra. It was produced by Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar and Apoorva Mehta under the banner Dharma Productions, and was distributed by Fox Star Studios. A sequel to the 2012 film Student of the Year, it stars Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, and Ananya Panday, alongside Aditya Seal and Harsh Beniwal in the supporting roles. The film follows Rohan Sachdev, a college student in a quest to become Student of the Year.
It was heavily panned by critics and audience alike and it holds a rating of 7% on Rotten tomatoes.
Student of the Year 2 was announced in October 2017. Initially, Malhotra and Shroff were to collaborate for a different film; when they found the final script unsatisfactory, they tweaked it and planned to make it a sequel. It marks the debut of both Sutaria and Panday and pursues a plot that is unrelated to its predecessor. Principal photography for the film began in April 2018 at Dehradun, and ended in September 2018. The film's soundtrack was composed by Vishal-Shekhar, with lyrics written by Anvita Dutt Guptan, Kumaar and Vayu, and released under the banner Zee Music Company.
Student of the Year 2 was theatrically released in India on 10 May 2019. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, with the script, unreal situation, and unrealistic depiction of Indian schools thus receiving criticism; Shroff's action sequences were praised. As of 7 June 2019, it has earned 98.16 crore worldwide, against a budget of 70 crore, including promotion and advertising costs.
Plot
Rohan Sachdev, a middle-class student at Pishorilal Chamandas College, decides to go to St. Teresa's High School after his childhood sweetheart, Mridula Chawla, transfers there. Mridula, now going by Mia, initially avoids Rohan in a desperate attempt to become popular, but the two begin a relationship when Rohan wins the college over by showing his sports skills.Rohan becomes friends with Manav Singh Randhawa, a popular, affluent, student and reigning Student of the Year. However, he is at odds with Manav's sister Shreya, who detests and often plays pranks on him. She tricks his Pishorilal friends into showing up at Manav's birthday party, where they are insulted, causing a rift between them and Rohan. After one of her pranks gets her in trouble with her father, Sukesh, Rohan tries to make peace with Shreya, but she refuses.
Rohan-Mia and Manav-Shreya are coupled up in an upcoming dance competition where Mia wants to win in order to gain popularity whilst Shreya wants to fulfill her dream of enrolling at a dance academy in London. Manav and Shreya win the contest after Mia falters during a step. When Rohan goes to console Mia, he instead finds her getting intimate with Manav, and realizes that Manav, knowing Mia had a crush on Manav, had planted Mia to spoil Rohan's performance since he saw him as a threat to his image. Rohan is expelled from St. Teresa's after punching Manav, and is subsequently beaten up by Manav's friends before being thrown out. Initially dejected and struggling to deal with what he sees as Mia's betrayal, Rohan eventually fights back and challenges Manav saying he, not Manav, will be winning the Student of the Year trophy.
Rohan returns back to Pishorilal, where his old friends treat him with contempt. Shreya, who is impressed by Rohan's sincerity, reveals to his friends that she set them up, and also convinces Rohan to join her in a national dance competition, hoping she can study at dance school in London. The two become friends as they practice and win the dance competition. Shreya reveals her mother died upon her birth, causing her father to believe she was cursed and detested her. Mia tries to win back Rohan after leaving Manav when he cheats on her. Shreya, though, reveals that she's also in love with Rohan, which results in a heated argument between Mia and Shreya over Rohan, culminating in Shreya spilling coffee over Mia in a fit of anger and Rohan asking Shreya to leave. Though Shreya thinks Rohan will go back to Mia, he comes to her house the following day and defends Shreya to Sukesh, revealing their dance victory.
During the Dignity Cup opening ceremony, a fight breaks out between Pishorilal and St. Teresa's, when Rohan's friends tease Manav and his team, ending in Rohan's teammate and rival Abhishek, being seriously injured. However, when Rohan beats up Manav to defend Abhishek, they make amends and the team decides to work together to win the Dignity Cup, training hard. When she goes to meet Abhishek in the hospital, seeing her Mia holds Rohan's hand showing Rohan patched up with her. There Shreya apologizes to Mia. When Mia asks her about her love for Rohan she tells it to be a schoolgirl crush and to be happy. Then she leaves. Rohan leaves Mia's hand and follows Shreya asking her if she is fine. She thanks him and reveals she will leave for London for graduating from the London School of Dance at the end of the term. At this juncture, Rohan professes his love for her, but she refuses and goes. However, Mia realizes that she has lost Rohan for good.
Pishorilal, usually last, manages to climb up the ranks and gets to the final against St. Teresa's. On the night of the second-day event, Mia expresses her happiness and tries to kiss him but he turns his face and tells him he doesn't want to patch up with her and saying that it's time he focused on his own dreams and not let her be his only goal. Although upset, she accepts his decision and supports Rohan in his fight. The two part as friends. The next day, before the final, Rohan confesses his love for Shreya for a second time and she accepts after he tells that Mia is just his friend and she is his present and future, and the two unite. During the Kabaddi match, Manav engages in foul play against Pishorilal, but Rohan helps the team fight back, and win the Dignity Cup, defeating St. Teresa. Rohan and Shreya embrace, which Mia sees but she leaves smiling knowing Rohan dreams has come true. Pishorilal celebrates their first-ever victory and Rohan becomes Student of the Year, fulfilling his dreams.
Cast
- Tiger Shroff as Rohan Sachdev, a middle-class student, winner of Student of the Year, and Shreya's love interest
- Tara Sutaria as Mridula 'Mia' Chawla, Rohan's ex-girlfriend
- Ananya Panday as Shreya Randhawa, Manav's sister and Rohan's love interest
- Aditya Seal as Manav Singh Randhawa, Shreya's brother
- Samir Soni as Principal Gujral, Dean of St. Teresa
- Gul Panag as Coach Kuljeet Chaddha
- Abhishek Bajaj as Abhishek Sharma
- Manoj Pahwa as Coach Mahipal
- Ayesha Raza Mishra as Principal Archana Singh
- Rajesh Kumar as Prem Narayan Sachdev, Rohan's uncle
- Manasi Joshi Roy as Rohan's aunt
- Chetan Pandit as Sukesh Randhawa, Shreya and Manav's father
- Samreen Kaur as Manorama Chawla, Mia's mother
- Manjot Singh as Commentator Dimpy
- Sahil Anand as Commentator Jeet Khurana
- Daljeet Singh as Abdullah Wahab, Rohan's second best friend
- Harsh Beniwal as Puggi, Rohan's best friend
- Alia Bhatt
- Will Smith
Production
Development and casting
Student of the Year 2 is a sequel to the 2012 Karan Johar-directed romantic comedy-drama Student of the Year. Shortly after the commercial success of the first film, a sequel was announced by the producers. In November 2017, a press release by Dharma Productions revealed that the sequel is slated to release in 2018; it would be directed by Punit Malhotra and star Tiger Shroff in one of the leading roles. The film was announced four years after Malhotra's previous directorial Gori Tere Pyaar Mein. It was to be produced in association by Johar's Dharma Productions and Fox Star Studios. The film's announcement by the company initially conflated with that of their another production, Dhadak, which roused speculation that Ishaan Khatter would star in the film. Johar denied the news and stated that the reports were "baseless and untrue".The announcement did not reveal the rest of the cast; Media reports speculated that either Disha Patani or Ananya Panday, daughter of Chunky Pandey, would play the leading lady opposite Shroff. In April 2018, Johar announced that the film's female leads would be Panday and Tara Sutaria, and it would be both their film debuts. Television actor Abhishek Bajaj made his film debut by playing a friendly rival to Shroff's character. Harsh Beniwal, a YouTuber, also makes his film debut as a Sikh student; in preparation for the role, he put on weight and grew a beard.
Malhotra stated that the two films have unrelated storylines: "The intention of the film is not to make this a Me Too of first part, so Tiger. It’s a fresh take on the subject. It’s more about sports and action". Malhotra took experience from his time as a student at Mumbai's H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, but made the film version much grander. Malhotra was initially supposed to work on a different film with Shroff, but two-three months before filming, they scrapped the project and wrote a new script, a sequel to Student of the Year. In response to accusations that the film raised unhealthy expectations for college life, Shroff said, "What you see here is a fun school. It’s a school that you want everyone to be a part of. We wanted everyone to fall in love with it". He plays an underdog in the film, expressing, "It's like Superman has been stripped of his powers".
Samir Soni, who had previously appeared in Malhotra's I Hate Luv Storys in 2012 and since shifted to direction, returned to acting by playing a college principal, a supporting role similar to the one originally portrayed by Rishi Kapoor in Student of the Year. However, the principal in the first film identified as gay, while the one played by Soni was heterosexual and more comical. Media outlets speculated that Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, who had starring roles in the previous film, would feature in a cameo appearance for a song. In May 2019, it was revealed that Bhatt features in a special appearance for the "Hook-up" song, alongside Shroff. As a part of the Facebook original Will Smith's Bucket List, Will Smith appeared in a song in the film for satisfying his wish of appearing in a Bollywood production.
Principal photography
for Student of the Year 2 began in 9 April 2018 in Dehradun. Shortly afterwards, parts of the film were shot at Rishikesh and Mussoorie as part of the schedule. Sets for the film were also erected in Film City, Mumbai. After the film's production was delayed, Sutaria's filming schedule began to clash with that of her other project Kabir Singh; she quit that film to ensure that shooting took place smoothly. In August 2018, a four-day sequence was filmed in Thailand. Filming ended in September 2018 with the shooting of the climax sequence. Student of the Year 2 was produced on an estimated budget of 65 crore, including promotion and advertising costs.Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was composed by Vishal–Shekhar with lyrics written by Anvita Dutt Guptan, Kumaar and first-time collaborator Vayu, and was released under the banner Zee Music Company. Reviewing the soundtrack, Pratishruti Ganguly of Firstpost wrote, "Unfortunately, tracks like "Hook Up Song" and "Mumbai Dilli Ki Kudiyan" perhaps indicate that the understanding of the "jawaan" pulse is a tad misguided in this film".The song "Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani", originally sung by Kishore Kumar and composed by R. D. Burman for the soundtrack to the 1972 film Jawani Diwani, was recreated for the film, with vocals provided by Vishal Dadlani and Payal Dev, and was rebranded as "The Jawaani Song". The "Hook Up" song, picturised on Bhatt and Shroff, was sung by Neha Kakkar and Shekhar Ravjiani.
Mumbai Dilli Di Kudiyaan, although released as the second song, was not used in the film, acting only as a promotional song, while Main Bhi Nahin Soya, which was released only with the full audio jukebox, was instead seen in the film, picturized on Shroff. Pakistani singer Atif Aslam recorded his version way earlier in November 2018 but in the 2019 Pulwama attack, Arijit Singh had to replace Aslam for the soundtrack version of the film. Aslam’s version for the song will release in the future.
Marketing and release
The film was announced via a first look poster featuring Shroff that was released on 20 November 2017 by Johar on various social media platforms; the poster carried the release date of 23 November 2018. In April 2018, first look posters featuring Sutaria and Panday announcing the new cast members were released; this was somewhat controversial owing to most of the cast being children of other actors, and this led to accusations of Johar promoting nepotism. On 30 July 2018, a press release by Dharma Productions stated that the film's release date was postponed to 10 May 2019 due to what was speculated to be expected competition from the science fiction 2.0.Two new teaser posters were released on 10 April 2019 presenting Shroff's look as a student. Another set of posters featuring Sutaria and Panday were released on 11 April 2019. On 12 April 2019, a theatrical release poster of the film was shared by Johar on his Instagram account; the official trailer was released later that day by Dharma Productions. Kshamaya Daniel of Rediff.com wrote of the trailer, "While the cast and their acting looks promising enough, the storyline – not so much". Ahead of release, a special screening was conducted for close friends and other actors.
Reception
Critical response
Student of the Year 2 was released to generally negative reviews from critics. It holds a rating of 7% on rotten tomatoes. Criticism was primarily directed to the script and unreal setting of the film. Meena Iyer of Daily News and Analysis gave it three stars out of five, writing, "This is the kind of film, which draws inspiration from the Archie comics with Tiger being Archie, flanked by a Veronica and Betty ". She concludes, "Apart from Will Smith's miss-if-you-blink appearance, watch for Tiger. Even when things around him are caving in, his ballerina grace is intact". Kunal Guha of Mumbai Mirror gave two and a half stars out of five and wrote it "excessively leans on tested formula", but follows, "There’s just something winning about a man with modest means, forcing his privileged adversary to eat dust". Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in, who gave the film two stars out of five, wrote, "The sequel that nobody wanted is neither an improvement over the original nor a downgrade of it", referring to it as a "glammed-up version" of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. Ramnath felt that Panday showed potential in the "ll games and no fun" film.In a more positive review, Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India gave the film three stars out of five, writing that it "doesn’t have that Ishq wala love, but there is ample dosti, high school drama and cool stuff to keep you going". Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News stated the film was "rite and inane, but fun to be had"; she felt "the first hour is immensely enjoyable, the second half of the film feels laboured". Ambica Sachin of Khaleej Times wrote, "Call it guilty pleasure or escapism, let's get one thing out of the way, nobody goes for a Karan Johar movie expecting great cinema", granting it three stars out of five. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama praised the sceeenplay for being "praiseworthy as its peppered with some entertaining, dramatic and even moving moments". He wrote, "On the whole, Student of the Year 2 is an entertaining and an enjoyable fare which will strike a chord in the audience's hearts".
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave it one and a half stars out of five and called the film "an egregiously escapist campus-rumpus musical in which nattily attired, unbelievably idle boys and skimpily clad girls... play games that make as much sense as a camel race on an airport tarmac", adding, "There isn't a single moment in the film that could be described as passable". Similarly, Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave one and a half stars out of five and expressed, "This class of 2019 has predictable beats, which is to be expected in an underdog story, but that it is so stilted is disappointing: from KJo I expect much more swish and sparkle". She felt Shroff "executes his dances-and-fights efficiently, even though struggles to appear student-like". Writing for Firstpost, Anna M. M. Vetticad gave the film one and a half stars out of five: "Cliché is piled on cliché in this unoriginal screenplay". Rajeev Masand of CNN-News18 gave it two stars out of five and said, "Student of the Year 2 is both predictable, and far from original... It isn’t unwatchable, it’s just unnecessary."