Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Sana Saeed, Alia Bhatt

Director: Karan Johar

The hardest job on a Karan Johar film set must belong to the cleaners, who I imagine spend most of the day on their knees scrubbing floors, dusting furniture, and basically making sure everything is spotless. The director’s new film, Student of the Year, is set on an impossibly chic campus where good-looking teenagers are invariably breaking into song or breaking into fights. Yet you’ll never spot a carelessly strewn cola can or even a stray sheet of paper lying around in the corridors or in the canteen. Oh those poor cleaners! 

At St Teresa High School in Dehradun (think that Riverdale-like setting of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, only swankier), trust fund brat Rohan (Varun Dhawan) is the coolest kid with all the hottest toys – a flaming red Ferrari, designer togs, and the prettiest girl in school, Shanaya (Alia Bhatt). That is, until Abhimanyu (Sidharth Malhotra) roars in on his bike. He’s the one with modest means – which is relative in a Karan Johar movie, because while Abhi’s family may not have enough makhan for their parathas, he can still afford the brands. After the typical teething troubles, the two boys become fast friends despite their drastically different ambitions. 

What tests their friendship is the Student of the Year competition, an annual event devised by the school’s gay dean Yogendra Vashisht (Rishi Kapoor) to pick the one student who will land a full scholarship to an Ivy League college. Typically, however, it’s the girl...or rather their ishq wala love for Shanaya that drives a wedge between the friends. 

Unapologetically aspirational, wearing its pedigree on its sleeve, Student of the Year plays out in a Gossip Girl-like universe, where feelings are surface-level and everyone’s a frenemy. The rich kids live it up extravagantly, while the rest (and even their families) aspire for membership into this exclusive club. In Johar’s world, clearly your biggest crime is being poor. This is the kind of world where the rich kid’s obnoxious dad flies half the campus to Thailand on his private jet to attend his son’s marriage. 

But it’s also true that Student of the Year doesn’t ask to be taken seriously. This is Johar's "holiday movie"; intended to show you a good time. So you have Glee-style introductions to the three leads in snazzily choreographed set pieces, a soundtrack of bubblegum hits, crisply edited sporting sequences, and outrageous humor like a track involving the dean’s crush on a strapping (and married) football coach. 

Johar’s secondary players may come off as stereotypes on paper – the rich kid’s chamcha, the heroine’s nerdy best friend, the fat boy everyone makes fun of, and the opportunistic girl who makes a play for someone else’s boyfriend – but more than likely you’ll find traces of yourself or your friends in each of them. And therein lies the film’s secret weapon – look beyond the shiny classrooms and the sun-kissed Thai beaches, the brightly lit song sequences and the repeated shirtless shots of our heroes…and there’s heart to be found, particularly in the film’s second half when Rohan and Abhi truly lean on each other. 

Karan Johar displays his trademark flair for light-hearted laughs and prettified emotions, capturing a world he knows inside out. This is the most extravagant launch any newcomer could have asked for. Good for them, Johar doesn’t know how to do things small. 

The debutants, in turn, put their best foot forward: Sidharth Malhotra is earnest and has a pleasing presence, while Alia Bhatt is cute as the clueless Shanaya, if a little raw. It’s Varun Dhawan who stands out with a confident, charming turn, able to tackle both comical and vulnerable scenes with ease. Yet if there’s a performance that glues together this film, it’s Rishi Kapoor’s. He never flinches in an unusual role, playing the part for laughs yet also infusing soul into what might have otherwise turned into a caricature. 

Too long by about twenty minutes, the film could’ve done with some tightening – perhaps the clunky treasure hunt sequence could go? Nitpickings aside, this is a breezy, enjoyable film by a director who knows his craft. 

I'm going with three out of five for Karan Johar's Student of the Year. If fun is what you’re seeking, you won't be disappointed.

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24-year-old Alvin Tan Jye Yee and his 23-year-old girlfriend, Vivian Lee has sparked an outrage when sexually explicit videos and pictures of them were discovered recently.

But unlike any other “Oops. My laptop was stolen and they were leaked without my permission!” cases, these were taken and posted willingly by both individuals.

Alvin Tan

Alvin, who has a National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Law ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship, met Vivian, a Multimedia University (MMU) graduate via Facebook. They initially uploaded intimate pictures (with certain “parts” edited out) on Facebook. The pictures, of course, were red flagged. So they decided to start a blog in September – aptly named, “Sumptuous Erotica”.

It was the same time that their “fooling around with pictures and videos” got a little bit more serious. (Source)

 

Sumptuous Erotica was filled with full-on pornographic material, as though they were amateur porn stars. Some self-made pictures displaying the couple’s naked bodies together and individually while videos containing their fetishes/roleplaying (read: Alvin as rapist and Vivian as victim) were uploaded. Shockingly, Alvin even encouraged their blog’s readers to “rate” their photos and urged them to share/repost their images.

Needless to say, it went viral.

All of it.

Sure, for them, it was super exciting. However, it all blew up in their faces when Alvin posted Sumptuous Erotica’s address on a public forum. From 1,000 page views per day, it skyrocketed to about 20,000 page views per day.

It sparked a controversy and now, Alvin has landed himself into hot (and not in the sexual way) soup because not only was he forced to take down the blog, NUS’ Board of Discipline (BOD) have taken the case into investigation. One NUS spokesperson said of the case, “All NUS students are expected to conduct themselves in a responsible manner and should not be associated with offensive behaviour. Any student found in breach of the University’s Code of Student Conduct will be disciplined”.

This basically means he could be expelled and dealt with legally, despite the fact that he’s not Singaporean. He could be denied entry into Singapore or both Alvin and Vivian could be prosecuted for breaching the Films Act on the grounds of obscenity for their videos. (Source)

Vivian, however, has jumped to her boyfriend’s, their blog’s, and their relationship’s defense by saying that they couldn’t care less about what the public thinks of this.

Vivian Lee

Still, was it worth it?

Yes, we know, it sounds like this was all just a huge cry for attention. But Alvin might’ve just gotten more than he bargained for:

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Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif has six sisters and one brother. Here are some family photos or you can see it very plain with her accomplice and six sisters. Seeing more closely, one can notice that no one is Indian typed, except for Katrina, which caused a small Indian side surely its anchorage in Bollywood (coloring her hair in another). This could call into question the truth of his origins, remember that Katrina's father is from Kashmir and her mother is British: 

Katrina Kaif Sisters

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