Dharma Productions, Karan Johar, director Puneet Malhotra and team are back with a sequel or next in the series as STUDENT OF THE YEAR 2, which carelessly remains the same old film presented in the same old familiar style with a new cast.
So SOTY 2 has everything what you witnessed in the first film, revolving around a school/college where students are never found in the classes, teachers are portrayed as morons, the dresses are more like of a fashion parade and books are used as props forgetting all about the discipline and decorum of such institutions. The writers change it from ‘A Girl and Two boys’ film to ‘Two Girls and A Boy’ action-oriented drama taking the viewers as granted quite confidently. Plus, both the writer-director take inspiration of their every single sequence from films such as KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI, the original SOTY and above all JO JEETA WOH SIKANDAR without any hiding at all. As a novelty they bring in KABADDI as the main sport, now being promoted as a professional league too, which should clearly give you an indication of why it was included in the film.
However, everything mentioned above still could have been accepted as a fantasy film produced by Karan Johar and directed by Puneet Malhotra, if only entertainment had been the outcome for the ticket bought. Sadly nothing entertains in its cliched story progression and the film has nothing refreshing in its treatment too, despite the presence of Tiger Shroff and two new charming girls completing the triangle.
To be honest, the original SOTY was also an over the top kind of below average film but it still had three impressive lead performers and music to keep you hooked. Unfortunately, SOTY 2 has not even got any similar sparks and Tiger Shroff remains the only one who keeps doing what he is best at, serving his dedicated fan following. On the other hand, both the girls get the roles with confusion written all over, hugely affecting their much-publicised debut portrayals.
To be specific, though Tiger does fine, he never appears to be a school/college student competing with much younger looking friends. The beautiful Tara Sutaria questionably becomes a victim of her director’s ignorance in a badly written role, whereas Ananya Panday still manages to leave an impression playing the spoilt, confused daughter of a rich businessmen. Aditya Seal also does fine as the opponent with a similar over-age looks but both Gul Panag and Samir Soni remain wasted quite cruelly.
Apart from the key actors, the makers bring in a youtube sensation Harsh Beniwal giving him a big screen break but choose to present him as a silly Sikh boy showcasing their own unaware and sick mindset quite clearly. As a matter of fact, right from his first film Karan Johar has been presenting SIKHS as comic characters in many films produced and directed by him and he continues to do the same in the present film too. No doubt some people refuse to grow-up, learn and respect the identity of others even in decades.
The average to below average songs further add to the careless attitude of the film wherein we yet again get to see a reworked old hit Hindi film track, an end credits item song featuring Alia Bhatt in a cameo and three Punjabi based tracks wherein one has the girl calling herself Kudi Delhi Shehar Di and boy proudly saying Main Vi Jatt Ludhiane Da.
In another of these Punjabi based songs, the lyricist takes his clear inspiration from the legend Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s cult classic “Ki Pucchde Ho Haal Fakeeran Da”. But there is no Imitaz Ali here in the team who could understand and relate to the actual emotional expressions in the original verses. Besides, SOTY 2 is also a lengthy film with its final 30 minutes completely focusing on all predictable sports events missing the expected excitement and energy.
Overall, here we have a sequel that remains rich in its entire look and feel, but is quite poor in its content and presentation lacking the required entertainment, drama and believable emotional conflict in its key characters. Heavily relying on the star enigma of Tiger Shroff alone, this is certainly not recommended and can only be tried later on the online portals.
However, in case this still manages to be a success at the box office then it will yet again prove the fact that mediocrity rules the present era and now anything can be sold in the name of entertainment, well-supported by a clever marketing strategy and brand promotion.
Ratings : 1.5 / 5 (Including an additional 0.5 for just the debutants)
