Karan Johar is one of the few directors who can attract a mass number of Bollywood fans to sit and watch one of his feature films. He manages to achieve this despite them knowing full well that his films can go one for a while. This is evident with films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), which ran for over three hours!
Well for fans that are yearning to see Johar’s next directorial venture Student of the Year (2012), those who may be feeling anxious about the film’s length needn’t be. This one is supposed to be his shortest film so far! Johar confirmed this to an Indian newspaper where he stated the following: “Yes this is going to be the shortest film of my career. Though I am yet to arrive at the final cut, it should be around 135-140 minutes at maximum.”
In addition to Johar’s statement, a senior crew member gave his own views to the same newspaper as to why the film has been kept brief: “Student of the Year hasn’t been designed as a saga per se that requires an extended story to be told. Moreover, this is the first time Karan is working with newcomers. With superstars you can still hold audience for three hours or more but with newcomers, it only makes sense to make it short and simple.”
Given the confirmation made by Johar, it can be safely said that Student of the Year is his shortest film to date. This easily overthrows his last film My Name is Khan (2010) which ran at 165 minutes. Featuring newcomers Siddharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt in the leading roles, Student of the Year officially releases in cinemas on 19 October 2012.
