For glitz & glamour, hot bods, fast cars, great music and choreography, SOTY is a good watch. However, coming from a director who gave us masterpieces like KKHH, SOTY is a disappointment. Yes, Karan did not have his A-team to bank on, but even after giving plenty of leeway for that, the movie disappoints on many fronts - the story is unimaginative and contrived, scenes stretched like they are from the Saas Bahu genre (check out the treasure hunt - a completely irrelevant part of the movie that takes close to 10-15 min of screen time), and overall, there are far too many situations that leave a bad taste lingering on.
St Theresa's is an elite school - the best of the best. Unlike in JJWS, both the super rich with their Guccis and Louise Vittons and Ferraris and the poor, the Batas (on scholarships, of course), study together. Well, at least they dance together in teeny weeny shorts. And in continuing with a 25 year old tradition, the obviously gay dean of the school kicks off the Student Of The Year competition - pitting the 100-odd students against each other in a 3 part affair - academics, arts and athletics. It's show time for rich brat Rohan Nanda and his average-middle-class best friend Abhimanyu, who are also fighting for the attention of the designer-clothed Shanaya Singhania, Rohan's girl friend from 4 years. Who wins, and how - that's really the point, but a pretty far-fetched one, and it will take you almost 3 hours to figure that one out.
The movie starts with the dean fighting for his life in a hospital, and half a dozen of his final batch of students - the "interesting" batch - showing up. They sit around the waiting room, exchanging uncomfortable pleasantries, and start narrating the story from 10 years ago. Sadly, even after the movie begins in earnest, they keep coming back with absolutely unnecessary and exceedingly increasing frequency.
As the movie meanders along, the sexy locales, scantily clothed leads, the great music and the dance numbers keep you interested, but the dialogues are flat, and in the few scenes where emotions have a play, the lead trio completely fall on their faces. The confrontation after Alia falls for Abhi is the most pitiable. Between the three, the lanky Amitabh-like Siddharth Malhotra as Abhi is the best, while Varun Dhavan is sincere. Alia Bhatt - hmmm, she has an interesting face, a pretty good bod, and the camera is kind to her - but this doll finds it extremely difficult to emote, and in the few scenes she tries, it just doesn't seem right. Rishi Kapoor as the dean Vashista is great, Boman shines in a tiny cameo, and Kajol totally rocks in her special appearance (SRK was so expected, but doesn't make the appearance). Ronit Roy, as coach, is good. Sana Saeed is too vampy, but Shanaya's friend Shruti (anyone knows her name?) was my favourite.
The stars of the movie fo rme - two songs - Radha Teri Chunri and Disco Deewane. Some of the other numbers are peppy too, and the music and dance is what saves the movie from being a complete no no.
Go watch it, as long as you keep your expectations at home.
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