Student of the Year turns 12: When Shah Rukh Khan’s absence during the shooting of Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra’s film made Karan Johar feel ’empty’

The 2012 film Student of the Year completes 12 years of its release today, October 19, 2024. Starring debutant Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra in lead roles, it was Karan Johar’s first directorial venture without Shah Rukh Khan. In this excerpt, let’s reminisce about the moment the filmmaker revealed that Shah Rukh’s absence during the shooting of the film made him feel ’empty’.

In an old interview with Zoom during the promotions of Student of the Year, Karan Johar was asked how he felt about it being his first film without Shah Rukh Khan. In response, Karan said that Shahrukh was playing an ‘integral’ role of a producer in the film. The director further revealed that initially he was comparing his new actors Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra with King Khan.

Karan said, “There was definitely a feeling of emptiness in the beginning and I found myself checking that before I said, ‘Oh Shahrukh will do this, oh Shahrukh will do this,’ until I realized that it was How ridiculous is the comparison because this is his first film and it’s ridiculous to put pressure on him to be not just anyone but possibly one of the best actors in the business.

However, Karan mentioned that this feeling went away after the first week of shooting and he became ‘absorbed’ into the lives of his new actors on the set. He said that halfway through he started believing that they were his Shahrukh Khan and Kajol.