The glamorous halls of St. Teresa’s are hiding a deadly secret. The trailer for Student of the Year: After Dark introduces Shanaya Kapoor in a darker avatar, playing a young woman who enters a dangerous campus environment with one mission: uncover the truth behind her twin sister’s murder.
Produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, the upcoming JioHotstar series takes the familiar Student of the Year universe away from romantic rivalries and glossy school life and into murder-mystery territory. This time, winning the campus competition may be the least of the students’ worries.
Shanaya Kapoor’s Double Role Drives the Mystery
The trailer opens with the discovery of Ayesha Malik’s body. Her twin sister, Aditi, is determined to find out what happened to her and get justice. To pursue the truth, Aditi enters the world of St. Teresa’s, where appearances can be deceiving and the people around her may know more than they are willing to reveal.
Kapoor takes on both Aditi and Ayesha, giving the story an additional layer of intrigue. As Aditi searches for answers, the trailer introduces a string of suspicious characters, unsettling clues and a competition that appears to turn student life into a dangerous game.
The central mystery is how Ayesha died and whether the school’s contest is connected to her murder. The trailer offers glimpses of the danger without revealing the full picture, leaving viewers to question whom Aditi can trust.
A Dark Reinvention of Student of the Year
The shift in tone is significant for a franchise that began with the 2012 film starring Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra. Its 2019 sequel, Student of the Year 2, continued the formula of campus ambition, romance and rivalry.
After Dark retains the competitive school setting but reworks it into a thriller. Director Reema Maya has described the project as “Student Of The Year, stripped to its bones and reimagined as a thriller competition web-series.”
The series also marks Kapoor’s OTT debut, offering her a role that moves beyond the conventional campus heroine.
When Will Student of the Year: After Dark Release?
Directed by Reema Maya and produced by Dharmatic Entertainment, Student of the Year: After Dark will premiere on JioHotstar on November 13, 2026. Divik Sharma and Manya Grover are also among the cast.
With a murder to solve and a dangerous competition unfolding behind school gates, the series aims to give the franchise a very different identity. Whether its mystery delivers on the trailer’s promise will become clear when the show arrives next month.
