Student of the Year 2: 5 Mistakes of Tiger Shroff and Ananya Panday’s Film That Are Making It Suffer at the Box Office

Student of the Year 2 might have taken off to the good start at the box office on its opening day. After that first weekend plus the first two days of the week, though, there is little reason to doubt that the Karan Johar production has not delivered at the box office as per expectations. Of course, it is still very soon to call Student of the Year 2 as a flop, but it is definitely on the way to earn that tag. If that's the case, then Student of the Year 2 becomes the second consecutive flop for Dharma Productions this year after Kalank. That's a rarity indeed! Student of the Year 2 Box Office Collection Day 5: Tiger Shroff and Ananya Panday’s Film Rakes In Rs 5.02 Crore on Tuesday.

For a movie whose cast is headlined by Tiger Shroff, Student of the Year 2 has not even crossed Rs 50 crore at the box office even in five days. Compare that to Tiger's last release, Baaghi 2, and you will know the difference. Baaghi 2 had already grossed more than Rs 50 crore in its third day (it made Rs 73 crore) and by the fifth day, it made Rs 95 crore.

Considering the low cost that Student of the Year 2 is made, the movie won't be as big a flop as Kalank, that was reportedly made on a budget of Rs 150 crore. It is definitely a misfire for Karan Johar, though. Some of the trade 'experts' are crying hoarse claiming SOTY2 to be a hit and we have seen the pictures of the stars of the film celebrating the 'success'. If the SOTY2 team wants to keep their heads inside the ground and be oblivious of their failure, it is up to them. Otherwise, they could look into what went wrong and rectify their mistakes, if and when they have plans to make Student of the Year 3. We can ask them to look into these five areas of concern:

#1 A Franchise No One Asked For!

Let's start with addressing the elephant in the room - Did anyone, save for Karan Johar, wished for a Student of the Year franchise? The first Student of the Year film, directed by Karan Johar, was a hit at the box office, but it was not particularly acclaimed and barely got over the Rs 100 crore mark. The movie has its moments and gave us three stars in Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra. But SOTY was watched for being a guilty pleasure and was ridiculed then for its cheesy premise. So apart from the lazy way of launching starkids, in this case, Ananya Panday, in the industry, there was no particular need to expand a very average movie into a franchise.

#2 The Listless Score

The one thing that really worked for the first SOTY movie was its beautiful score. Yes, even the much ridiculed 'Ishq Wala Love' stayed on people's lips despite the inane and lazy lyrics. The makers retained the composers, Vishal-Shekhar, for the sequel but they couldn't deliver the same magic that they spun for the first film. The only songs even remotely worth humming was the 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani' remix (more so because of nostalgia) and, to some extent, 'Fakira'. The rest of the songs are pretty listless.

#3 Bad First Impression

Now let's talk about the trailer. Raise your hands as to how many of you actually like the first promo of Student of the Year 2? Generally, it gave vibes that it is relying too much on the tropes of the first film as well as Tiger's jumping power. Nowadays every trailer gives rise to memes, but in the case of Student of the Year 2, the jokes were on the movie rather than being used on anything else. Well, at least, Kalank's trailer looked impressive visually.

#4 Bad Scripting

SOTY2 director Punit Malhotra had once said, that they had to change the first draft of the film completely and rewrite the film in three months. If this is true, I wonder how bad the first script was. For Student of the Year 2 is an inferior rehash of the first film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. There were opportune moments for the film to poke fun itself, but it takes itself too seriously to deliver a very cheesy, insipid romance and a half-baked sports drama.

#5 Tiger Shroff's Misplaced Casting

Student of the Year 2 was first announced in 2016 with Tiger Shroff in the lead. But it actually took the success of Baaghi 2 in 2018 for the film to go on floors. The film has been tailored to rely on the young superstar's nimbleness when it comes to action and dance. Not a bad thing, but the idea is totally misplaced in a film like Student of the Year 2 where the stakes need to feel real. Instead, Tiger's character Rohan feels like someone has picked up him up from Shaolin Soccer and put him in St Teresa's. Not only does Tiger not look anything like a college student (neither does his rival, Aditya Seal), his martial arts is completely out of place. The way he does acrobatics in the final kabaddi match makes the finale such a predictable bore. Now compare that with the unpredictable ego rivalry between Varun and Sidharth's characters in the first film!

Tiger Shroff may be the one drawing in whatever little crowd into the theatres for Student of the Year 2. And yet he is also the film's biggest undoing. Agree with our observations here? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 15, 2019 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).