Student of the Year 2 Review

In trying to differentiate itself from its predecessor Student of the Year 2 overloads itself with too many storylines and anticlimactic drama. A new orphaned Rohan (Tiger Shroff) living with his uncle and auntie, gets into the posh, expensive college his supposed girlfriend is in only to get involved in feuds with fellow students while trying to compete in the Annual Inter-College Dignity Cup competition. The twist is that this time the love triangle isn’t between two guys and a girl it’s between two girls and a guy. Also, the romantic conflict is resolved way too easily and unrealistically as both girls are so understanding of Rohan’s decision. I mean in the last one Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra broke their whole friendship because of their rivalry for the girl and the Student of the Year trophy.

All the action is basically just flying roundhouse kicks between Rohan and Manav. Oh and kabaddi, lots of kabaddi. Speaking of which the whole kabaddi tournament was copied from the Hollywood movie Dodgeball: The Underdog Story, which told it way better. In that one the need to win applied to the whole team, but in this movie, Rohan wanted to win to get revenge on Manav and somehow his challenge carried over to the whole team because Manav beat up Abhishek. I feel it would’ve been better if the team lost the final raid in the tournament (finishing second is still a feat for a school that’s usually always last) but Rohan wins the Student of the Year trophy because of his dedication and spirit that had him try to win the final raid with a broken shoulder.

Now about the thing everybody’s talking about: Will Smith’s cameo. It was great to see him in the movie but his cameo was so short and had no context unless you watch his bucket list video on Facebook. I think the final thing I’ll say is that Rishi Kapoor played a better Dean than the cartoon, radio jockey they had in this movie.

Student of the Year 2 works as a time pass movie for those looking to get the ‘full thali’ out of a movie (i.e. action, comedy, romance, dancing, etc.) and for Tiger Shroff fans. Honestly, the only people that benefited from this film are Tiger Shroff, as he gets to show off his dance moves again as well as his agility and muscles, and probably the two new actresses, Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday, for having their debut be this movie. I give it a 2/10.