Student of the year:
OK it is K Jo film but on the flip
side you are saved the Khan ham do. OK it is a high decibel launch of
youngsters but the pedigree is missing and therefore made up with intensity. OK
it is yet another college campus dekho by a group that is clueless on what
happens there but there is candyfloss in abundance. OK it yet another love
triangle with a narration that takes you back to Dil Chaahta Hai but it moves
into a feisty and speedy narration ever so often that you tolerate the
interruptions. OK it is all about well-chosen locales, contemporarily
choreographed scenarios, predictable conflict moments but the guys and gals
give it the sincerity that you take it without much protest. In short SOTY is
loudly déjà vu. Both loud and déjà vu and yet it is tolerable – nay perhaps a
tad better than the usual K Jo stuff.
The promos have already told you that it is youthful fizz and about students
and love. So you know that there is just that much you can expect out of it and
if K Jo is the kind of cinema – smile, laugh, sing, dance and you would slowly
be led to an emotional moment that just stops you from tears kind of cinema
then the latest dosage is just what was ordered.
Move to college – typically filmi: (a la Kuch Kuch.., Mohabatein, Mein Hoon Na
and ever so many) and you have the prime players Rohan Nanda (Varun Dhawan) son
of business tycoon Ashok Nanda (Ram Kapoor) and so you know he is chasing
skirts has all the money and the cronies and is in love with the smartest,
sexiest sweetest lass around Shananya (Alia Bhat). The group has a typical set
of losers in the club of winner – including the tom boyish gal, the plump guy
Sudo (Kayoze Irani) the sardar Dimpy (Manjt Singh). Walking into this scenario
(literally) is the orphan but extremely talented and confident Abhimanyu Singh
(Sidharth Malhotra). St. Teresa is their educational institution – sorry their
rendezvous – the fun and fight spot. The Dean (Rishi Kapoor) has built an
unhealthy tradition for the past quarter century of converting good friends
into fiery competitors. Since the film starts with Shanya and Rohan already in
love, the accept through reject tale is reserved for the guys – Rohan and
Abhimanyu. Then the guys bond to magical chemistry both as required under the
script and with their talent. Obviously sooner than three songs two games, one
fight the love story moves into a love triangle. Add to this is the on-going
competition for the Student of the Year and you have the script completely
covered. Just a peep into the private life of our three principal characters:
Rohan (hurt at rejection by success oriented and suffocating dad) Shanya
(refusal to accept her half father and sibling thereof) and Abhi (orphan
constantly insulted by her aunt but loved with a grandma). The rest of the tale
is the finale to the competition with ridiculous parameters and a near
predictable finale. To credit the film maker, he gives it a final twist and has
a good and serious take on how education is robbing man of his human element.
What really helps the film is the performances. Rishi as the gay Dean and Ronit
Roy as the coach give the film the restrain that balances the other energy part
of the film. Ram Kapoor looks like he is straight out of the sets of Bade Ache
Lagte Hain – restrained and cool. Kayoze Irani makes a very interesting debut
and has his moments in the script. Farida Jalal is grace personified. Kajol
makes her blink and miss appearance. The three major debutants lead from the
front. Aliya is no Pooja Bhat – meaning she is more star than actress material.
The guys are good and herald the caveat for the next set of actors. Both Varun
Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra are good. While Varun gives his all-round persona
a find interpretation, Sidharth sometimes ends up looking a cross between
Sudesh Berry and Sonu Sood, but the guy too has great screen presence and
surely in the years to come would be seen aplenty. The guys make serious claims
to the title of the best debutant which hitherto was assumed in favour of
Ishaqzaade Arjun Kapoor.
Thank you K.Jo for giving us a film without the predictable Khan. Thanks also
for introducing a young brigade that can push our cinema towards tomorrow
rather than suffer the Khan inertia. Watch for novelty and some promising
performances.
L. Ravichander.