Karan Johar’s campus flick Student of the Year (SOTY) turns 10 today. Released a decade ago on October 19, the film marked the Bollywood debuts of Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra.
Celebrating SOTY’s 10th anniversary, Karan shared a mashup video on Instagram and said that the film wasn’t meant to ‘move any cinematic mountains’ but was intended as a ‘young, fun and entertaining’ film.
He wrote, “SOTY started of as me making a “holiday film”…. A film that certainly wasn’t intended to move any cinematic mountains but a film that was young, fun and entertaining … what I didn’t realise then that this film would give me so much more than memories or a commercial success … would give so much more than a film in my directorial archives… this film gave me three of my most defining relationships” …
Sid, Varun and Alia went on to become my family…..besides my mom they are the three people I think I talk to every single day…. I never knew way back then that I would have children of my own …but my first protective parental feeling was for all three of them… I love you SID! I love you VARUN and I love you ALIA (yes yes I know I am not supposed to keep saying it but what the heck love is love)… I say it to my kids and I want to say it to all 3 of you ….. love you to the moon and back ….”
In another post, Karan shared throwback pictures with his lead cast and punned on the names of their recent films.
“Down the years with my students of every year! So proud of their cinema journey! It’s no Raaz(I) that they have mastered the ABCD of their craft and emerged as Shershaahs of goodness and talent! Love you #10yearsofsoty,” Karan wrote.
Student of the Year told the story of three friends - Abhimanyu, Shanaya and Rohan - who attend St. Teresa’s College together.
The film follows their ensuing love triangle over many years. SOTY was Karan’s first directorial to not star Shah Rukh Khan. An unconnected sequel, Student of the Year 2, starring Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday, was released in 2019. It was directed by Punit Malhotra and produced by Karan.
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)