Maitreyi Sreenivas
Not a lot of newcomers could have pulled off the role of Shanaya Singhania – a glamorous and spoilt yet emotional young girl, who just wants to be loved.
Alia Bhatt as Shanaya in Karan Johar's Student of the Year was a great casting choice and in my opinion, Shanaya remains Bhatt's most entertaining performance till date.
When Shanaya is introduced to us to the background music of 'Gulaabi Aakhein' we see a teenager who has everything any girl her age would want. However, as the movie progresses we see an unhappy girl living with a façade of happiness.
In a movie with senior actors like Rishi Kapoor, Ram Kapoor and Ronit Roy, Bhatt stands her ground and plays the poor rich girl very gracefully and memorably.
She evokes sympathy and as the audience you constantly feel like she could do much better throughout the movie, which she agrees with and ends up doing eventually.
Thank you for reading
If high school romances are your guilty pleasure, this one's for you.