Student of the Year After Dark is now streaming on JioHotstar, and the first reviews are in. The six-episode thriller premiered today, 13 November 2026, turning Karan Johar’s glossy campus franchise into a murder mystery — and early critics agree on one thing above all: Shanaya Kapoor’s double role is the reason to watch.
Image Credit: JioHotstar — Official Trailer/Poster via YouTube
If you were waiting to see whether the darker spin on St. Teresa’s works, the first verdicts say it mostly does. IWMBuzz rates the series 3.5 out of 5 and calls it a gripping watch, while CineTalkers describes it as a taut, binge-worthy watch led by a standout dual performance. Here is everything to know — the story, the cast, what the critics praised and criticised, and how to watch it.
Student of the Year After Dark review: what the critics say
The reviews published today agree that the show’s biggest strength is its leading lady. IWMBuzz calls Shanaya Kapoor “the heart and soul of this series”, praising how she balances Aayesha’s glamorous, vibrant energy with Aditi’s intense, fierce nature. CineTalkers goes further, calling her grounded, assured dual performance “the show’s strongest asset” and saying she gives the twins distinct personalities that keep the audience invested in both arcs.
Both reviews also praise the craft around her. IWMBuzz highlights the sharp dialogues, the moody background score, the sleek styling and the atmospheric campus cinematography, and credits director Reema Maya with weaving the murder mystery into the competitive world of St. Teresa’s without letting either thread suffocate the other. CineTalkers agrees, noting the brooding atmosphere, slick visuals and a haunting background score from Night Song and Shalom Benjamin that sustains the suspense across episodes.
The criticism is consistent too. Both reviews note that the middle episodes dip a little — IWMBuzz says the pacing dips slightly in the middle and the story could have spent more time on Aditi’s grief before jumping into the investigation, while CineTalkers says a few middle episodes feel slightly overextended and a brisker edit would have made the narrative even sharper. Neither review treats that as fatal: IWMBuzz still calls Student of the Year After Dark a gripping watch for fans of campus thrillers and murder mysteries, and CineTalkers closes by calling it a successful reinvention of the franchise.
What is Student of the Year After Dark about?
Student of the Year After Dark is a Hindi-language psychological thriller series and a spin-off of the Student of the Year films — the 2012 original directed by Karan Johar and its 2019 sequel. This time, though, the glamour of St. Teresa’s comes with a body count.
The story opens at St. Teresa’s when Aayesha Malik, the campus queen bee, is found dead, drowned in a frozen lake. Her identical twin sister Aditi refuses to believe it was an accident. Grieving and suspicious, Aditi enrols at the same school to find out what really happened to her sister — and walks straight into the school’s intense Student of the Year competition, where ambition, rivalry and secrets are tangled up with the death. As Aditi digs deeper, she uncovers a sinister game at play and a trail of secrets pointing at the people closest to her sister. JioHotstar summed up the premise when it shared the trailer: “At St. Teresa Heritage School, the closer you get to the truth, the deadlier it gets.”
The series is directed by Reema Maya (Reema Sengupta) and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, with Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla and Apoorva Mehta producing. It runs to six episodes, all of which dropped together on JioHotstar today.
Shanaya Kapoor plays twins Aayesha and Aditi
The entire series rests on Shanaya Kapoor, who plays both sisters. Aayesha is the glamorous, popular queen bee of St. Teresa’s; Aditi is her estranged twin, who returns fierce and determined after her sister’s death. It is a demanding double role, and it is also a double debut of sorts: Shanaya made her Bollywood debut with Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyaan, and Student of the Year After Dark is her OTT debut as a leading lady.
The casting is a deliberate break from the franchise’s past. Where the earlier films were glossy campus romances, this spin-off asks its lead to carry grief, suspicion and a murder investigation — and the first reviews say she carries it well, switching between the twins’ very different energies from the opening minutes.
The rest of the cast of Student of the Year After Dark
Shanaya Kapoor leads an ensemble of young faces and dependable supporting actors. Divik Sharma plays Siddharth ‘Sid’ Saraiya, Abhinav Singh plays Rehaan Rizvi, Manya Grover plays Tara Barman and Deeya Damini plays Smriti, known as ‘Babydoll’ Bisht. The supporting cast also includes Sheeba Chaddha, Adi Malik, Vivek Gomber and Mannat Duggal.
The trailer, which JioHotstar released on 27 October, drew comparisons with shows like Riverdale and Elite — the same world of beautiful, ruthless teenagers with something to hide — and the finished series leans into that comparison, trading the franchise’s lighthearted rivalries for toxic hierarchies, buried resentments and hidden agendas beneath elite student life.
How to watch Student of the Year After Dark
Student of the Year After Dark is streaming exclusively on JioHotstar from today, 13 November 2026. All six episodes are available now, in Hindi, so you can binge the whole mystery in one sitting. Watch the official trailer here:
If you have already seen it, our earlier preview of the series — with seven reasons it looked like a must-watch — is here:
Frequently asked questions
When did Student of the Year After Dark release?
Student of the Year After Dark premiered on JioHotstar on 13 November 2026, with all six episodes streaming from day one.
How many episodes are there in Student of the Year After Dark?
There are six episodes, all available on JioHotstar now.
Who plays the twins in Student of the Year After Dark?
Shanaya Kapoor plays both twins — Aayesha Malik, the St. Teresa’s queen bee who is found dead, and Aditi Malik, her sister, who enrols at the school to uncover the truth.
Is Student of the Year After Dark connected to the films?
Yes, it is a spin-off of the Student of the Year franchise, set at the same St. Teresa’s, but it is a standalone murder mystery rather than a sequel to the films.
What rating did Student of the Year After Dark get?
IWMBuzz rated it 3.5 out of 5 and called it a gripping watch, while CineTalkers praised it as a taut, binge-worthy watch with Shanaya Kapoor’s dual performance as its strongest asset. Read the full reviews at IWMBuzz and CineTalkers.
Image Credit: JioHotstar — Official Trailer/Poster via YouTube
