Seven years ago, Karan Johar’s campus flick Student Of The Year became a rage. This stylised college caper, which gave birth to three talents — Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra — was majorly patronised by youngsters, who went in to look at the designer wear and hot bodies. But they were also in for a surprise — the three debutants were talented as well. 

So now, it’s turn for an encore. Student Of The Year 2 (SOTY 2), directed by Punit Malhotra, with Tiger Shroff and two dew-fresh girls (Ananya Panday and Tara Sutaria) has piqued the audience’s and trade’s curiosity.

The film seems to be tailor-made for the young at heart. Peppy tracks like The Jawaani Song (a redux of RD Burman’s Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani rendered by Kishore Kumar in Jawani Diwani, 1972) and The Hook-Up Song (with Alia and Tiger), have rapidly climbed the charts.

Conceding that the “audience’s expectations are very high”, trade guru Taran Adarsh says, “First of all, it is a sequel to Student Of The Year (2012), which became a brand and still has tremendous recall value. It gifted the industry three newcomers — Varun, Alia and Sidharth — who have become stars of the new generation. This time, two new girls — Ananya and Tara — are being introduced.  The film also has Tiger, who is a force to reckon with. He has a huge fan following. After the stupendous success of Baaghi 2 (2018), he is in the top bracket.’’

Taran further adds, “Like its predecessor, SOTY 2 looks like a well-packaged movie targeted at the youth. The brand value of Karan Johar and Tiger, and such positive reactions to the promos and songs have done the trick. The Jawaani Song and The Hook-Up Song have caught on big time.”

Student Of The Year 2, presented by Fox Star Studios, and produced by Hiroo Johar, Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta, releases today.