Student of the Year

Student of the Year is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama film directed by Karan Johar, written by Rensil D'Silva, and produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan under the banners of Dharma Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment. The film stars debutantes Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan, and Alia Bhatt, with supporting performances from Rishi Kapoor, Ronit Roy, Sahil Anand, Manjot Singh, Ram Kapoor, Farida Jalal, Manasi Rachh, Sana Saeed, and Kayoze Irani. Set in the fictional St. Teresa’s High School, the narrative follows three students navigating love, friendship, and rivalry as they compete for the prestigious Student of the Year trophy.

The film marked the acting debuts of Malhotra, Dhawan, Bhatt, Saeed, and Irani, and featured music composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with cinematography by Ayananka Bose and editing by Deepa Bhatia. Principal photography took place in various locations across India, including Dehradun and Bangkok.

Released theatrically on 19 October 2012, Student of the Year received mixed reviews from critics. While praised for its performances, visuals, direction, and music, some criticism was directed at its writing and narrative depth. The film emerged as a commercial success and became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of the year.

At the 58th Filmfare Awards, the film earned four nominations, including Best Male Debut (Malhotra and Dhawan) and Best Female Debut (Bhatt), and won the R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent (Neeti Mohan for "Ishq Wala Love"). The film later spawned a standalone sequel, Student of the Year 2 (2019), directed by Punit Malhotra and starring Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, and Ananya Panday, with Bhatt making a cameo appearance in a song.