The Student of the Year franchise is leaving the trophy case behind and walking into a crime scene. JioHotstar has released the trailer for Student of the Year: After Dark, a thriller that keeps the familiar campus contest but places a death at the centre of it.
Shanaya Kapoor makes her OTT debut in the series with a double role. She plays Aayesha Malik, a popular student who is found dead, and Aditi Malik, the twin sister who refuses to accept that the death was an accident. Aditi enters St. Teresa’s and joins the Student of the Year competition, turning the contest into a route to the truth.
The competition becomes the investigation
The format is the hook: as Aditi moves through the school’s rivalries and hidden pressures, her sister’s friends and rivals double as suspects. The trailer frames the contest not as a feel-good race but as a pressure cooker where ambition can curdle into something dangerous.
- Shanaya Kapoor’s first double role — and her OTT debut.
- The core mystery — Aayesha’s death, which Aditi is convinced was not accidental.
- The setting — St. Teresa’s and the Student of the Year competition.
- The release — November 13, 2026 on JioHotstar.
Why the darker turn matters
Director Reema Maya has described the series as “grit, angst and heart” aimed at “the youth of now.” Her stated focus is the relentless competition young people face, and what happens when the need to succeed destroys friendships or even the self. That moves Student of the Year away from a story about winning and toward a story about what winning costs.
“It is a murder mystery – competition series, where the competition is part of the investigation.” — Reema Maya
Shanaya Kapoor said the contrast between the twins made the work demanding. The two sisters may look alike, but their personalities and choices are sharply different, and Aayesha’s death sets the story in motion while Aditi’s search for truth reveals how deceptive appearances can be.
The ensemble includes Sheeba Chaddha, Vivek Gomber, Abhinav Singh, Divik Sharma, Manya Grover, Deeya Damani and Adi Malik, with Dharmatic Entertainment producing. That mix of experienced actors and newcomers suggests the series is balancing the franchise’s youthful energy with a real whodunnit spine.
What to do before November 13
Watch the trailer to see whether the darker tone works for you, and add the series to your JioHotstar watchlist now. If you liked the original films but wanted higher stakes, this is the version that puts the competition inside a crime story.
Source: bollywoodHungama.com
