Yesterday I was smitten with the
Radha song from this film so I couldn’t resist but watched the movie. And yes when you are watching a Karan Johar
movie you need to keep a lot of things in your mind – no questioning the logic
or rationale, and not relating anything closer to earth. Alert: If you can’t shut off your mind and its
questions then avoid.
Presenting a high school musical
in true Karan Johar style. It has K Jo elements from the word go. Generous
sprinklings of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai moments
and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham feel are something
which you cannot miss. Or even some skin show of the boys ala John Abraham in
Dostana.
The Story – Set in a picturesque locale of Dehradun St. Teresa’s or
‘St. Teez’ is a posh upmarket residential school (big question if it’s a
school/college or something else) and the students find themselves in the peer
groups of the ‘filthy rich Tatas’ or
the ‘bechara gareeb Batas’. Rohan
Nanda (Varun Dhawan) & Sahanaya Singhania (Alia Bhatt) pioneers of the
spoilt brat group faces the ultra-cool Abhimanyu (Siddhart Malhotra) a free
thinking scholarship student who oozes confidence and wants to reach the
pinnacle.
‘The Competition’ of life starts
under high drama when the happy & ‘gay’
Dean Yogendra Vashisht (Rishi Kapoor) announces the annual trophy of Student of
the Year. [In our times it was topping the exams that made a pupil student of
the year – here however it is all judged by an IQ test, a treasure hunt, a
dance competition and some sports events!!!] Who wins the trophy and gets the
girl is something that you will have to watch.
As I said earlier if you start
questioning logic you will never find the answers. Like a scholarship student
(supposedly from a middle class family) roams around in bike and can afford big
brands, Rohan – son of THE best business tycoon – moves around in even swankier
cars – mind you cars and not a single car – and all this happens in school.
Well this school is one of its kind – possible only by Karan Johar I guess –
doesn’t have much academic activity [because you don’t see any scenes inside
class room apart from the IQ test and a song], but has sports facilities which
can give serious competition to the London Olympics Village. The business
tycoon suddenly invites almost all the lead characters of the school for his
son’s wedding in Thailand. Or even the mother asks Tanya if she is using the
push up bras and getting bikini wax done!
I think I am also starting to
search for the missing logic but let’s leave that aside. Performance wise you
will love the mean Ram Kapoor as Ashok Nanda the business tycoon. Rishi Kapoor
looked cute & pink and gave quite a nice performance in a role which you
would never think of him doing.
About the three new faces – yes they
are fresh, cute and young on screen after long time. Dream debut for all the
three.
Alia Bhatt has the innocence on her face and can emote. She couldn’t have
asked for a better introduction in the film - it has all the spice of Poo’s
attitude, style and zing of as in Kareena’s introduction in K3G.
Among the new boys one has the
looks and good expressions but its true Siddharth Malhotra needs to take up
some dance lessons.
Varun Dhawan on the other hand doesn’t have the
conventional chocolate boy look but is a fine actor and dances pretty well.
The
little girl from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Sana Saeed, is the surprise package. She plays
the rich and bitchy Tanya Asrani and does a fine job.
If there’s something that I am quite impressed
with in the film is the fresh new songs. A very good album by Vishal &
Shekhar this year. I am still listening to the Radha song even now as I write.
Among the other songs that sound cool are the Disco song & Vele.
So in all it’s an entertaining
movie ala Karan Johar OTT style. For me a time pass movie but definitely better
than other hyped movies like Cocktail, Rowdy Rathore etc.
My rating 2.75 out of 5 no
actually I can give 3 because of the songs.
Image Source : Google Images
