Ananya BhattacharyaDelhi: When the extremely young and ravishing Alia Bhatt walked in, there were many whose hearts skipped a beat. However, the treat wasn’t only for the men; the women too, were recipients of generous doses of Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra – both dashing enough to make girls swoon. The two are known to have had their shirts ripped off while they were at a certain girls’ college in Mumbai, and that – is self-explanatory.
When the trio placed themselves in front of the many clicking cameras, the poise was polished, the poses perfect. There seemed to be not a trace of nervousness as the three tackled the volley of darts from the audience’s side. The month-long promotions for ‘Student Of The Year’ sparked off with their stop in the capital, and Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra were more than enthusiastic to see their launch pad metamorphose into one that would win over people.
‘Student of the Year’ is a film that has considerably been in news for a number of reasons – the most prominent of which is the fact that for the first time Karan Johar, instead of casting Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role, has roped in three fresh faces. ‘SOTY’ is a story that traces the beautifully complicated trajectory of these three high school kids, their transition from teenage to adulthood, and the abundance of emotions that go into the making of Rohan (Varun), Abhimanyu (Siddharth) and Shanaya (Alia).
Elucidating his character, Varun Dhawan says, “Rohan is the son of Ashok Nanda (Ram Kapoor), a multimillionaire. Being his son, I’m a little rebellious; I don’t look eye-to-eye with my father, almost go against the tide and do things that most fathers wouldn’t approve of. But I’m not like that in real life (adds Dhawan with a wink)! My friendship is mainly with Abhimanyu Singh (Siddharth Malhotra) in the film, and ‘SOTY’ is about how Abhi brings about a change in Rohan’s lifestyle.”
Siddharth Malhotra, who had been an assistant director on the sets of ‘My Name Is Khan’, is a Delhi lad who still has not been able to come to terms with the fact that he is in the city for a stipulated amount of hours during which he just can’t meet his family. Amid allegations of “showing that he’s busy” from his parents, the actor opens up about his Abhimanyu of ‘SOTY’: “Abhimanyu Singh is the new boy in town; he’s come to St. Teresa’s School, Dehradun, on a sports scholarship. A focussed and ambitious person, Abhimanyu wants to win the competition. He’s from a middle-class background, doesn’t have parents, and looks up to Varun’s father in the film. The prioritisation of friendship and the competition is what forms the premise of the film.”
Already on the cover of the latest issue of Vogue, the shy yet feisty Alia Bhatt might be all of 19 years, but she doesn’t falter while tackling the incessant bullets called questions. Speaking about her role in ‘SOTY’, the youngest Bhatt in B-town says: “My character’s name is Shanaya Singhania. She’s basically obsessed with her clothes, her shoes and her bags. She’s all about brands – the brand-freak. She comes from a dysfunctional family, and like any other girl, at this point of her life, she does feel a bit lonely. It’s a journey for her, one that teaches her who she is.”
‘Student of the Year’, a product of Red Chillies Entertainment and Dharma Productions, will see the light of the theatres on October 19 this year. And no stone is being left unturned in promoting the film: the new blood that Karan Johar has poured into ‘SOTY’, is being splashed all over multiplexes and towns munificently; reddening them with hopes of the young actors and expectations of the audience!
First Published: 9/18/2012 6:51:23 PM