Student of the Year 2 Review: More Muscles, Less Class!
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Set in a fancy college in Dehradun, the Bollywood film “Student of the Year 2” tries to be a mash-up between the Archie comics and the 1992 hit “Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander.” What it ends up being is a boring, predictable, over-exaggerated, and under-written college drama with one-dimensional leads.
Tiger Shroff plays the underdog Rohan Sachdev, an athlete from a middle-class family who transfers to St. Teresa’s College because his childhood sweetheart Mia (Tara Sutaria) studies there. Rohan’s dream is to win the “Student of the Year” trophy, and he must fight for the title against St. Teresa’s heartthrob, Manav (Aditya Seal), who first appears to be friendly and then emerges as a bitter rival. Ananya Pandey plays super-brat Shreya, who also clashes with Rohan, but eventually, sparks fly between the two, setting the stage for a love triangle. Hence, the Archie comparison: a middle-class guy stuck between the super-rich, bratty Shreya and the beautiful Mia.
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“Student of the Year 2” is nothing but a showcase for Tiger Shroff’s muscles and dance moves, because all his character Rohan does in the film is jump through buildings, fight hordes of bullies, and dance like he is aiming for a world championship. And while everybody knows Tiger Shroff can dance, his acting skills continue to be debatable. Ananya Pandey, in her debut role as Shreya, is surprisingly the most convincing as the brash, arrogant diva with a vulnerable side. However, her dancing skills aren’t as great; she lacks fluidity in her movements.
At least the first “Student of the Year,” which starred Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, and Sidharth Malhotra, featured some catchy tracks; however, “Student of the Year 2” has a completely forgettable playlist, and much of the background music either uses the same tunes from the older film or rehashes them a little bit. Large stretches of “Student of the Year 2” are simply cringe-worthy, and a lot of it has to do with lazy writing and formulaic direction. One of the rare funny moments in the film is a confrontation scene, where Mia writes an apology letter to Rohan and comes to give it to him in person and a miffed Shreya asks her “couldn’t you just Whatsapp this?”.
The climactic competitions for the inter-college tournaments and the “Student of the Year” trophy is of-course quite predictable, with Rohan suffering some setbacks before he can rise and be the hero again. Rohan gets so many unrealistic sequences at the start of the film that you just know what is going to happen in the end.
Watch this film only if you have nothing better to do with your time and don’t mind watching a bunch of college students dancing and fighting around as if academics do not exist at all in their world.
Student of the Year 2 is on Netflix/Prime Video and Jio Cinema.
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