Karan Johar’s Student of the Year franchise is leaving behind the glossy campus romances and stepping into a much darker space. The third chapter in the series, titled Student of the Year: After Dark, is a web series that trades sunshine and dance numbers for murder, mystery, and a deadly school competition. Directed by indie filmmaker Reema Maya, the show stars Shanaya Kapoor in a double role and is set to stream on JioHotstar from November 13, 2026.
The shift is not a small tweak. Johar himself described the new series as “gritty, gory, unbiased and absolute madness” in an Instagram post that marked 14 years of the original film. Reema Maya, known for her Sundance-selected short Nocturnal Burger, spoke to Hindustan Times about why Johar wanted the franchise to go dark, how she built her version of the story, and what viewers can expect when the show arrives.
Karan Johar’s Vision for a Darker ‘Student of the Year’
The original Student of the Year arrived in 2012 and launched the careers of Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, and Sidharth Malhotra. A sequel followed in 2019 with Tiger Shroff, Ananya Panday, and Tara Sutaria. Both films were rooted in the familiar world of St. Teresa’s College, where friendship, romance, and campus rivalry drove the story.
The new series keeps the setting but changes almost everything else. Shanaya Kapoor plays twin sisters Aayesha Malik and Aditi Malik. Aayesha, the popular queen bee of the school, is found dead. Aditi refuses to accept that her sister’s death was an accident and enters St. Teresa’s under a different identity to investigate. Her search pulls her into the school’s fiercely competitive Student of the Year contest, where every student has a secret and the competition itself becomes part of the mystery.
Reema Maya told Hindustan Times that the idea of a darker take came from Johar himself. The project was always meant to be Student of the Year 3, but the intention from the start was to make it something different.
“It was always supposed to be Student of the Year 3. From the beginning, the intention was that SOTY 3 needed to be something different. That’s why I was brought on board and told, ‘Please take this and make this your own.’”
— Reema Maya to Hindustan Times
Maya said there was no resistance when she shared her vision with Johar. “There was none; only excitement and encouragement,” she said. According to her, Johar told her to “just push it and have fun.”
Reema Maya’s Approach: Emotional Intensity Over Shock Value
Making a franchise darker does not automatically mean leaning on explicit content. Maya drew a clear line about what she wanted to show and what she did not. In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, she explained her thinking.
“I knew that I don’t want to show sex and I don’t want to show drugs. I want this to be an emotionally intense experience. But I don’t want to show those things and the youth indulging in those things because that’s not what the story is.”
— Reema Maya to The Hollywood Reporter India
For Maya, the darkness of the show comes from pressure, ambition, and the emotional cost of competition, not from graphic content. She described the series as a way to strip the franchise down to its core and rebuild it as a thriller competition. The web format gave her a wider canvas to have what she called “a conversation with the youth today.”
The director also spoke about what drew her to the project in the first place. Two elements stood out: the young adult genre and the competition format. “How do I take these two elements and create something that is a conversation I want to have with the youth today?” she said.
From Glamour to Grit: What Changed in ‘After Dark’
The original films were built around a polished, aspirational picture of college life. After Dark replaces that picture with something much more tense. The trailer, released on October 27, 2026, shows a school where students compete for the top spot while secrets and suspicions tear their relationships apart.
Aayesha’s death is the starting point. Her twin sister Aditi’s investigation turns the Student of the Year contest into a suspect pool. Her closest friends become her strongest rivals. A secret underground game connected to the contest adds another layer to the mystery.
Maya described the show’s tone in a statement shared by Outlook India.
“Student Of The Year – After Dark is grit, angst and heart. It is for the youth of now.”
— Reema Maya
The series also changes how the characters look and behave. Maya revealed that Shanaya Kapoor cut her hair and skipped makeup for the role, a move that pulled the character away from the glossy styling of the earlier films. Kapoor plays two sisters with very different personalities, and the director praised her preparation. In a statement quoted by the Indian Express, Maya called Kapoor “a director’s actor — prepared and hardworking.”
Kapoor herself spoke about the challenge of playing twins. In a statement shared by Mathrubhumi, she said the dual role was one of the most demanding experiences of her career.
“Playing Ayesha and Aditi has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences for me as an actor. While the two sisters may look alike, they couldn’t be more different in their personalities and the choices they make.”
— Shanaya Kapoor
A New Generation of St. Teresa’s Students
The cast of After Dark is entirely new. No actors from the previous two films return. Alongside Shanaya Kapoor, the series features Abhinav Singh, Divik Sharma, Manya Grover, Deeya Damani, Adi Malik, Sheeba Chaddha, and Vivek Gomber.
The show is produced by Dharmatic Entertainment, with Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, and Apoorva Mehta backing the project. Alok Jain, head of Hindi and English entertainment at JioStar, said reimagining an iconic franchise for a new format came with both responsibility and creative risk. Apoorva Mehta described the series as “not just a reboot, but a bold, genre-defying reimagining for a new generation,” according to TBS News.
Release Details for Global Viewers
Student of the Year: After Dark will stream exclusively on JioHotstar starting November 13, 2026. The series will be available for viewers in India on the platform at launch. For audiences outside India, JioHotstar content is typically accessible through the platform’s international availability, though viewers in the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia should check local streaming listings closer to the release date for confirmed access. The show has six episodes, with the final episode running close to an hour, according to Maya’s interview with THR India.
Fan Reactions and Comparisons to International Shows
The trailer sparked a wave of social media reactions, with viewers drawing comparisons to several popular international series. Comments gathered by the Hindustan Times and the Express Tribune show a mix of curiosity and skepticism.
One viewer wrote, “Giving Riverdale x 13 Reasons Why vibes.” Another commented, “ELITE + Squid Game = Student of the Year After Dark.” A third described the show as “South Bombay ka Squid Game basically,” pointing to the competitive and potentially dangerous setting teased in the trailer.
Not every reaction was positive. Some viewers felt the trailer leaned too heavily on familiar international formats. “Looks like a cheap Bollywood copy of 13 Reasons Why,” one comment read, according to Indulge Express. Another wrote, “Too much happening.”
The comparisons put the series in a crowded space of campus thrillers and survival dramas, but they also show that the show has caught attention for its sharp departure from the original franchise’s tone.
What the Shift Means for the Franchise
The Student of the Year films were built on a simple formula: attractive young stars, a prestigious college, romantic tension, and a competition that tested friendships. After Dark keeps the college and the competition but removes the comfort. The stakes are no longer about winning a trophy; they are about surviving a murder investigation and facing the consequences of unchecked ambition.
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Maya’s background in independent film, including Counterfeit Kunkoo and Nocturnal Burger, both of which premiered at Sundance, suggests a different kind of storytelling instinct than the glossy studio films that launched the franchise. Karan Johar acknowledged this in 2024 when he announced Maya as the director at the Cinevesture International Film Festival in Chandigarh. He said he wanted the project to be “her way and definitely not mine,” according to ThePrint.
“I just wanted it to be her voice. She made it her own series.”
— Karan Johar, via ThePrint
Student of the Year: After Dark arrives on JioHotstar on November 13, 2026. The series runs for six episodes and stars Shanaya Kapoor in a double role as twin sisters caught in a murder mystery at the heart of St. Teresa’s most competitive tradition.
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