Student Of The Year (2012), Student Of The Year 2 (2019) and now Student Of The Year: After Dark (2026).
Have we ever imagined that the candy-floss world of students, introduced by ace director Karan Johar 14 years ago, would ever go for a complete makeover?
Karan Johar and the creative team of Dharmatic Entertainment, alongside the creative team of JioHotstar, wanted a 'different' take for the third instalment of the popular franchise. A two-time Sundance Film Festival-nominated filmmaker, Reema Maya (Reema Sengupta), came on board to re-imagine Karan Johar's world of students in her own way.
Ahead of the release of the JioHotstar original on November 13, Reema Maya shared about the series, her vision, Karan Johar's faith in her and the nepotism debate around Shanaya Kapoor's casting in the series in an exclusive chat with NDTV.
I Met Shanaya Without Nepotism Context
Back in 2012, Karan Johar launched Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra with Student Of The Year. Alia and Varun come from film families. The trend continued with the lead cast of Tiger Shroff, Ananya Panday and Tara Sutaria in the second instalment. Two of the lead actors are from film families.
Shanaya Kapoor, daughter of actor Sanjay Kapoor and Maheep Kapoor, is leading the series Student Of The Year: After Dark with a young ensemble cast.
Asked how Reema Maya will deal with the nepotism conversation about Shanaya Kapoor's casting, she tells NDTV, "I met her without any such context. For me, she was like just any other actor that was trying to play a part in my show. The expectations were exactly the same. Nothing changed because of the family that she came from. Everyone for me was the same. Honestly, there was full support from Mr Johar for the entire casting palette.
"Manya Grover, Deeya Damini, Abhinav Singh - it's an exciting ensemble cast. Some of them are from independent films, some of them are from theatre backgrounds. I can't wait for people to experience all my actors."
Reema Maya had an engaging conversation with Shanaya where she tried to understand her perspective, the age-group and the psychology.
"It's a process that I followed with all my actors. It's exciting to see that all of them came with so much of zeal, drive. They wanted to prove themselves. They wanted to push their limits," said the director.
Student Of The Year: After Dark - The Genre
Reema Maya envisioned the world of Student Of The Year: After Dark. Taking the viewers into the mindspace of that creation, she says, "It is a young adult murder mystery competition series. It's a beloved franchise. I imagined how the world and characters look like today. The world we live in today is not glossy, glamorous and bubblegummy. We don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world which has light and dark. We live in a world where we are battling so many battles within and without. That's the vision of the world I want to set in for this series."
The Story Behind Reema Sengupta To Reema Maya
Reema Sengupta, who is now preferred to be called Reema Maya, shared an inspiring story for the name-change.
Maya is her mother's pet name who played an important part to translate her dreams of becoming a filmmaker into a reality.
"Reema Sengupta is my official name. Reema Maya is my artist's name. Maya is my mother's ghaar ka naam. When I decided to be a filmmaker, she was such a huge catalyst to help me understand the world, to take me on little scooty to various workshops. She's the biggest pillar of support for pursuing my career in films. I felt it's my homage to her for putting all her hard work in me and leading me to the path of what I do today," Reema Maya shares with us.
Karan Johar And The Journey Into The Mainstream
Reema's 2018 short film Counterfeit Kunkoo (2018) premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2018, becoming the first Indian fiction short to be nominated in 16 years.
Her 2023 short film Nocturnal Burger (2023), presented by XRM Media, premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2023 and won over 41 awards. The film qualified for Oscar consideration in the Best Live Action Short Film category and won Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress at the Critics' Choice Awards India.
Adept in short film format, commercials, Student Of The Year: After Dark marks Reema Maya's series debut in the mainstream Hindi film industry. That too under the banner of Karan Johar's Dharmatic.
Asked if Reema wants to taste the mainstream with her expertise in Independent films, the director says, "I could have chosen to stay in my comfort zone. But I wanted to challenge myself. The stakes, pressures, expectations are very different when you work in a commercial space. And why not Independent filmmakers like us bring our ideas and sensibilities to this space? It's a daunting task. It's like finding the right mixture of familiarity, relatibility, accessibility, uniqueness in storytelling."
Will Reema Maya Call Karan Johar her mentor in the mainstream space?
"Karan was very kind, supportive, motivating. He put his faith in my voice and vision. From the very beginning, he always said, 'do it your way'. Coming this from such an established auteur, it boosted my self-confidence. So that I could take certain decisions without being afraid about it," says Reema Maya.
Student Of The Year: After Dark not only marks Shanaya Kapoor's entry into KJo's list of students, but also put Reema Maya on the list of director-students to watch out for.
