‘Student Of The Year 2’: Welcome to the La La Land of Karan Johar’s St. Teresa

It’s a sultry hot summer day and everything seems to be going wrong. How does it feel? Well, we all know the answer. When the trailer of Karan Johar‘s ‘Student Of The Year 2‘ was announced, we all knew what to expect from it. But wait a minute, the trailer just surpassed our expectations.

Firstly, I wonder when will Bollywood understand the dictionary meaning of a basic term like ‘sequel’. Trying to encash on the popularity of one film by just suffixing its name with ‘2’ or ‘Returns’ does not make it a sequel unless it actually takes the story of the first film forward. But going by the reports that KJo’s previous students – Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra will be making a cameo in ‘SOTY 2’, perhaps with just one scene, the filmmaker will swiftly establish the connection between the sequel and its predecessor.

The trailer of this Punit Malhotra directorial was dropped last week. And as they say, trailers are a sneak-peek into the soul of a film. So now, we all pretty much know what can be expected from this larger-than-life college romance. Interestingly the film’s poster itself raised a few very logical questions like “Who goes to college wearing such clothes?”(check the posters if you haven’t yet). And don’t miss that blatant product placement of Tommy Hilfiger.

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KJo has this knack of making everyone feel poor just by being himself. The set up of ‘SOTY 2’ looks so removed from reality that it feels as if they exist in some parallel universe where people like you and me can’t even imagine going. The campus of the college itself is so vast that perhaps it can be declared as a separate state.

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Then comes the highly anticipated inter-collegiate ‘Dignity’ competition. Winning it is so important for everyone as if their whole life depends on it. Parents and teachers would perhaps make peace with the students failing in annual exams, but failing in the competition means the end of the world.

To be honest, the makers of this franchise should not take the effort of casting a female lead since their story mostly focuses on the hero. Going by a dialogue in the trailer- “Ek hath mein girlfriend ek hath me trophy..yeh aim hai teri life ka?” – it pretty much sums up the importance of the actresses in this sequel. Yes, they have been equated with trophies because their role will be nothing more than adding a glamour quotient in the film. In short, they will be just reduced to showpiece while our hero will beg, borrow and steal (most importantly flex his muscles) to win the coveted ‘Dignity’ cup.

Coming to our hero, he is so powerful that he can literally send 7 boys flying into the air with just one punch and that too in the game of Kabaddi! Have you seen such a great student? I mean in real life?

I don’t know if it’s my taste or the 90s kid in me that I terribly miss watching films like ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander’. This simple and endearing film perfectly personified coming-of-age stories. Everything was so realistically portrayed that one could actually feel the pain and pleasure of its characters. I wonder what has happened to our filmmakers that they are running out of original story ideas?

Just plugging 4-5 songs, shooting at exotic locations and having a star attraction in their films might get the attention of some viewers but what about the content dude? When are you guys going to pay heed to that?

Lastly, I just hope that I am proved wrong about the film’s pretentiousness and it actually turns out to be a good watch.

Also Read: With ‘Kalank’, Karan Johar continues his insane obsession with love triangles

Pooja Sharma

Cinephile. Bibliophile. Pluviophile. Selenophile. Autophile. Aesthete. Blood group- Tea positive. Poetry lover. Sucker of rom-coms.

PS: Sharmaji ki Ladki sucks at writing bios.
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