It’s 2012. Director and producer Karan Johar has made his first movie since the debacle of My Name is Khan and instead of filling his cast with established stars as he usually does, this one has three new faces: Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra. Few would have guessed that 10 years later, the biggest star and most respected actor from this trio would be Alia Bhatt.

When it was released, Student of the Year (SOTY) was loved and hated with equal passion. Its aspirational elitism, high-school politics and age-old romance tropes made it seem like Bollywood had been granted its very own Disney show. The film was also called out for its paper-thin characters and shallow writing. After Bhatt, Dhawan and Malhotra graced the couch on season 4 of Koffee With Karan with Karan Johar, all three — particularly Bhatt — seemed like an extension of the characters they played in SOTY. Jokes about Bhatt being an empty-headed bimbo would be cracked for years. At the time, a lot of people rolled their eyes at how two out of the three debutantes that Johar chose for SOTY were star kids. As it turned out, all three have stayed in the limelight and their debut film, against all odds, remains memorable. Here’s why.

The advent of Alia Bhatt

With ‘Gulabi Aankhen’ marking her arrival, Shanaya from SOTY provided little indication of who Bhatt would grow to become. The then 19-year-old played the wine-throwing, understated Regina George of Bollywood, who realises there is more at stake in her school life than winning an intra-school competition. By which we mean she finds herself in a love triangle. Today, with films like Raazi (2018) and Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) to her name, Bhatt has not just proved herself to be a skilled, versatile actor, but she’s also a star who headlines blockbuster films.

Bollywood’s new batch

Along with Bhatt, the other debutants of SOTY were Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra and Kayoze Irani (he’s Boman Irani’s son). Johar also relaunched Sana Saeed, who had last been seen as eight-year-old Anjali in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and now delivered a culture shock as the boyfriend-stealing Tanya. Of the cast of characters in SOTY, the one who is perhaps most memorable is Irani as Kaizad "Sudo" Sodabottleopenerwala. He has a monologue towards the end of the film that many Indian students will find easy to recall. In real life, Dhawan and Malhotra went on to join the ranks of Hindi cinema’s bankable stars. Coincidentally, Malhotra has a release this week — Thank God — and it’s a far cry from what you’d expect from his Abhi in SOTY.

Absolved by abs

There’s a scene in SOTY that has Bhatt sauntering on a beach in a bikini, which makes Dhawan’s Ro drop his sunglasses to ogle her better and Malhotra’s Abhi gape. However, if this was a scene for the male gaze, there were many scenes for the female (and queer) gaze in which Dhawan and Malhotra’s lost their shirts so that their abs dominated the screen. The abs added about as much to the men’s character as the bikini did for Bhatt — and no one complained.

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