Principal photography for 'Student of the Year' officially began during the first week of April 1992, Vikram Nair and Sunita handled it as he was busy in recording movie songs, and unlike most film productions, this project carried extraordinary responsibility on one man's shoulders. Adil Ali was not only the producer through Zenith Film Productions, but also the film's director, lead actor, and one of its playback singers. Every creative decision from casting and costumes to camera movements and performances, ultimately rested with him.
Knowing that he would frequently be in front of the camera, Adil had spent weeks preparing his directing team. His first assistant director, Sunita, would supervise continuity, artists, costumes, and daily schedules. His second assistant director, Karan Johar, Who he specially invited. Karan Johar has not filmed any movie yet. He is not the well known director and producer of Bollywood. Karan would control the shooting floor whenever Adil stepped into character. During acting scenes, Karan had complete authority to call "Action" and "Cut" according to Adil's pre-discussed instructions. The film's cinematography was entrusted to Vikram Nair, whose calm temperament and technical precision perfectly matched Adil's visual style.
Meanwhile, Rajiv, General Manager of Zenith Companies, and his team had been working quietly behind the scenes. Nearly three weeks before the unit arrived in Dehradun, Rajiv personally travelled there with an advance production team. He negotiated with the administrations of Kasiga School and Welham Boys' School, arranged security personnel, obtained filming permissions from local authorities, booked hotels for nearly two hundred cast and crew members, hired local transport companies, organized catering services, and coordinated with local police to manage crowds expected to gather once word spread that three of the country's biggest young stars would be filming there.
May 01, 1992. By the time Adil landed in Dehradun, almost every logistical challenge had already been solved. Rajiv simply greeted him with a folder. "Everything is ready." Adil smiled. "I knew it would be."
One evening before shooting officially began, the entire senior crew gathered inside the conference room of their hotel. Large storyboards covered one wall. The complete shooting schedule occupied another. Adil stood before everyone.
"We're shooting for almost four months," he began. "I don't want anyone thinking this is just another college film." He pointed toward the storyboard. "This film succeeds only if the audience believes these three characters actually study together."
He looked at Hrithik. "Your confidence should never feel arrogant." Then toward Aishwarya. "Your beauty should never become your personality." Finally, he smiled at both of them. "And remember, our friendship off-screen will become our chemistry on-screen."
The room became silent. Vikram unfolded several camera diagrams. "For the Kasiga schedule," he explained, "I'm using longer tracking shots instead of quick cuts."
Adil nodded. "The college itself is one of our characters."
Karan distributed the first week's call sheets. Every day's work had been planned almost minute by minute.
By sunrise on the first day, Kasiga School had transformed into St. Teresa International College. Production designers had worked through the previous night. Colourful banners decorated the entrance. Student lockers lined the corridors. Achievement trophies filled display cabinets. International flags hung across the central building. Hundreds of junior artists, dressed in stylish uniforms, arrived before dawn. Makeup artists hurried between vanity vans. Assistant directors checked attendance. Costume assistants steamed blazers. Lighting technicians positioned reflectors across the courtyard.
Vikram walked slowly through the campus carrying only a light meter. He studied how sunlight passed through the trees. "This light will disappear by nine-thirty," he quietly remarked. "We shoot outside first."
Karan immediately adjusted the schedule.
Adil arrived shortly afterward. Instead of sitting inside his vanity van, he walked across the campus greeting technicians individually. Electricians. Spot boys. Camera assistants. Security guards. He knew many of them by name.
Rajiv watched from a distance before turning toward Sunita. "That's why people work so hard for him."
Interestingly, the very first shot of the film featured none of the lead actors. Adil wanted the audience to experience the college before meeting its students. The camera began outside the main gate. Students entered laughing. Cyclists crossed the road. A school bus arrived. Teachers walked through the courtyard. The Steadicam operator slowly travelled through the campus before reaching the central academic building. The shot lasted nearly ninety seconds and required almost forty background artists to hit precise marks.
On the first take,one extra looked directly into the camera. Second take, a bicycle entered too early. Third take, a security guard accidentally walked into frame. Fourth take was perfect.
Adil reviewed the monitor. He simply nodded. "Next setup."
The crew immediately realised something. Unlike many directors who celebrated every successful shot, Adil rarely displayed excitement. He simply continued working.
The third day of shooting was reserved entirely for Aishwarya Rai's introduction. Unlike Hrithik's confident entrance or Adil's quiet arrival, Shanaya's first appearance had to establish elegance, grace, and confidence simultaneously. Adil wanted her introduction to feel memorable without looking exaggerated.
Early that morning, Vikram walked through the central corridor with his viewfinder. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, creating long golden patterns across the polished floor. "This is perfect," he said. "We only have about forty-five minutes before the light changes." The entire crew immediately accelerated their preparations.
Adil walked over to Aishwarya before cameras rolled. "There is only one instruction." "What is it?" she asked. "You already look beautiful. So don't try to look beautiful. Walk naturally. You have done modeling, That is your advantage. If you enjoy walking through the college, everyone else will notice you automatically."
Aishwarya smiled. "I understand."
The second take became the final version. Later, Vikram remarked that the difference between the first and second take was barely noticeable. Adil smiled. "The audience will notice."
Perhaps the happiest atmosphere of the entire first schedule came during the college canteen scenes. Nearly two hundred junior artists filled the dining hall. Background actors laughed. Students played table tennis. Music played softly from speakers hidden around the set. During lunch scenes, Adil encouraged genuine conversation instead of memorized reactions. "If you forget the dialogues, keep talking. We'll dub it later."
One afternoon, Hrithik challenged Adil to a table tennis match during a lighting change. Crew members gathered around cheering loudly. After nearly fifteen minutes, Adil won.
Karan laughed. "So much for the hero."
Adil smiled. "I'll save my celebration for the movie."
Beneath a large tree during lunch, the conversation drifted from films to business. Hrithik smiled. "I still can't believe you're opening restaurants." Adil laughed. "They're almost ready. ZEST should open by the end of July." Aishwarya smiled. "So if this schedule gets difficult, we know where free food is coming from." Rajiv, passing nearby, simply added, "Only after opening day." The entire unit burst into laughter.
The relaxed atmosphere gradually helped the three lead actors become genuine friends, a chemistry Adil believed would naturally translate onto the screen.
With the introductory portions of the film completed, Adil called a production meeting on Sunday evening. The atmosphere was noticeably different. The technical pressure of introducing the three lead characters was over. Now came the emotional heart of the film.
"Opening sequence is complete," Adil said, standing before the storyboard. He turned toward Aishwarya. "Your character is no longer simply the beautiful girl on campus. You become the emotional balance between two completely different young men." Then he looked at Hrithik. "You don't become the villain. You become someone, Rebellious and carefree." Finally, Adil smiled. "And my character has to learn that sometimes love makes life more complicated instead of easier."
Everyone understood that the tone of the film was about to change. The art department transformed one corner of the campus into a peaceful meeting place for the lead pair. Fresh flowers were planted. A wooden bench was repainted. Decorative lanterns were hung from nearby trees. The sequence appeared simple. Adil's character Abhimanyu arrived carrying two cups of coffee, Aishwarya was already sitting beneath a large tree reading a novel. They spoke about dreams, careers and life after graduation. No dramatic music. No declarations of love. Only two young people slowly becoming comfortable with each other.
Before filming, Adil spoke privately with Aishwarya. "Don't think about romance." She looked at him curiously. "Think about friendship. If friendship feels real, love will happen naturally."
The rehearsal lasted nearly an hour. When cameras finally rolled, the conversation flowed effortlessly. Several lines were improvised. Aishwarya laughed unexpectedly during one take after Adil accidentally spilled a little coffee. Instead of stopping the scene, Adil continued. After playback, Vikram smiled. "Keep it." Adil agreed immediately. "Real life is always better than perfect acting."
One of the most visually challenging scenes of the Kasiga schhol schedule involved artificial rain. The script required the two characters to become trapped outside the library during a sudden downpour. Rajiv arranged for two industrial rain machines to be transported from Mumbai. The setup alone required almost an entire day. Large water tanks were installed behind nearby buildings. Electricians carefully waterproofed every lighting cable. Safety officers inspected every connection before filming began.
Vikram wanted the rain illuminated from behind. "It shouldn't look like water. It should look like silver."
Filming began shortly after sunset. For nearly six hours, Adil and Aishwarya performed the same short sequence repeatedly while standing under freezing artificial rain. By midnight both actors were soaked. Between takes, crew members wrapped them in thick blankets before makeup artists rushed forward to restore continuity. Despite the difficult conditions, neither actor complained. Around one o'clock in the morning, Vikram finally reviewed the last take. He smiled. "We have it." The exhausted crew applauded.
The next several days focused on the changing relationship between the three friends. These scenes demanded subtle performances rather than dramatic confrontations. Hrithik's character began noticing the growing closeness between Adil and Aishwarya. Simple moments carried emotional meaning, a lingering glance, an unfinished sentence, a quiet disappointment hidden behind a smile.
Before filming one confrontation scene, Adil gathered all three actors. "There is no villain. Only three people with their own personality."
Then came the scene nobody on the crew had spoken about openly, though everyone knew it was approaching.
It appeared as a single line inside the script. A kiss. Brief. Honest. Inevitable given everything the two characters had built toward each other across the film.
Adil had known from the beginning that this moment would be complicated.
It was 1992. Kiss scenes in Hindi films were rare enough that their inclusion alone could generate controversy. Most actresses of the era simply refused them outright, and audiences largely expected that certain boundaries would remain unspoken but understood. The industry had its own quiet code.
He raised the subject with Aishwarya one evening after the rest of the unit had already left the hotel conference room. The storyboards were still pinned to the wall. The overhead light hummed softly. Outside, Dehradun had gone quiet.
Aishwarya looked at the script page for a long moment. "You know what people will say," she said finally. "I know," Adil replied.
"It will follow me."
"I know that too."
She set the script down on the table and looked at him directly. Not as his leading actress in that moment, but as herself. As the woman who had been with him long enough to understand when he was asking something that mattered to him genuinely.
"Tell me why it has to be in the film," she said. Adil sat back in his chair. He chose his words carefully.
"Because everything this story is building toward, every scene, every glance, every conversation beneath that tree. It's all leading somewhere real. If we stop just before that reality, the audience will feel the absence. They'll know we were afraid." He paused. "And I don't want this film to be afraid."
She was quiet for a while.
"It won't be filmed like other directors would film it," he added. "I'm not interested in something dramatic or theatrical. One camera. Natural light. No crew on set. Just the two of us. I'll adjust everything myself." She looked at him. "You'll clear the entire set?"
"Everyone goes. Vikram, Karan, Sunita, everyone. I'll set the frame myself and we'll shoot it ourselves."
Another silence settled between them. Outside, a night bird called once and then went quiet again.
"Ok. I trust you, but remember i am doing it, because i love you. I don't want to hide it from anyone. If it were someone else. I would have never agreed." She remained quiet for a while became shy and said. "It will be my first kiss, i don't know how to do it." she said at last. Quietly, but without hesitation. Adil was stunned, it was not because she has agreed for the kiss scene, but because she had confessed to him. It was the first time she said "I love you" Adil didn't answer. He closed the distance between them and kissed her lips directly. Aishwarya was stunned by his boldness. But she didn't resist closed her eyes. Adil opened open her mouth and their tongues met. Kiss lasted for five minutes. Adil slowly backed away. Aishwarya opened her eyes. She looked shy. Adil teased. "Now it will be second one" Aishwarya face became flushed. She kicked his foot and said. "Rascal" and fled away.
The morning of the shoot, the call sheet listed the scene vaguely. Interior Library Corridor, Evening Light, Intimate Scene Restricted Set. Word had moved through the unit overnight the way word always moves through film sets, quietly and completely. Nobody asked questions. Nobody lingered.
By mid-afternoon, the corridor had been dressed and lit during a brief technical session with Vikram. The cinematographer walked through it once with Adil, discussing angle and focal length in low voices. Then Vikram handed over the camera, looked at Adil for a moment, and simply walked away without ceremony.
Karan ushered the remaining crew outside. Sunita collected her continuity folder and followed without being asked. Rajiv, who had been coordinating a schedule change nearby, stepped out and pulled the corridor doors closed behind him.
Then the corridor was empty. Only Adil and Aishwarya remained.
The late afternoon light was still strong enough to filter through the corridor windows, falling in long amber columns across the floor. Adil moved through the space slowly. He checked the camera position. Adjusted the framing slightly. Moved a reflector two feet to the left so the light would fall more naturally across both their faces without looking arranged. He checked the focus. Set the aperture. Stood where he would stand during the scene and looked back at the lens to confirm the composition.
Aishwarya watched him work. She leaned against the wall with her arms folded loosely, watching his quiet concentration without interrupting it.
He came over to her eventually and stood close, speaking in an ordinary voice, the way one speaks when a room is fully private.
"We don't need to rush it. If it doesn't feel right, we stop. We can come back to it."
She looked at him steadily. "Let's not come back to it." He smiled. "Okay."
They ran through the scene once without the camera, not as a formal rehearsal, simply as a reminder of where the characters were emotionally in that moment. The dialogue before the kiss was only a few lines. Comfortable lines. The kind that come after everything difficult has already been said and two people are left standing in the silence on the other side of it.
Adil returned to the camera. Set it to roll. Came back to his position.
There was no assistant director to call action. No clapper board. No crew watching from behind a monitor.
He simply looked at her, and she looked at him, and they began.
The scene moved through the quiet dialogue naturally. Aishwarya's expression carried everything it needed to — not performed warmth, but the real ease of someone who had long since stopped pretending around this particular person. When the moment arrived, it arrived without announcement. Adil leaned toward her and she did not move away, their face cane close, them lips met and for a few seconds the corridor held only the sound of distant birds and the faint hum of the building around them. Then the kiss ended. Itw as a simple kiss not french kiss.
When they stepped back from each other, neither spoke immediately. Adil walked over and stopped the camera. He rewound and checked the footage through the viewfinder, moving through the frames slowly.
He set the camera down. "That's the one," he said. She exhaled quietly. Not relief exactly. More like the particular feeling of finishing something that had seemed impossible from a distance.
After putting down the camera, Adil walked up to her again and said, "Now that the camera is off, let me collect the interest for last night's kick." Aishwarya looked at him nervously and asked, "What are you doing?" Adil didn't answer. Instead, he moved closer to her. She instinctively backed away until she found herself against the wall. Lowering her voice, she whispered, "Adil, there are people outside." He smiled teasingly. "Weren't you quite brave yesterday when you said you loved me? You weren't afraid of others finding out. You even called me a rascal." Aishwarya looked away and muttered, "Okay... I'm sorry for kicking you and calling you a rascal." But Adil still didn't step back. Realizing she had no way out, Aishwarya slowly closed her eyes. After a few moments, however, she noticed that nothing had happened. Confused, she opened her eyes just as Adil flicked her forehead and laughed. "What were you thinking?" Embarrassed and aggrieved, Aishwarya rubbed her forehead before kicking his foot once again. Adil immediately pretended to be in pain. Ignoring his act, she pushed him aside and walked over to a chair a short distance away. As she walked, she glanced back and said, "That's exactly what you deserve, rascal."
Outside, the unit was waiting. After a while, Adil opened the corridor doors and the crew began filtering back in, nobody made a show of asking how it had gone. Vikram glanced at Adil's expression and asked nothing. Karan redistributed the next day's call sheets as though the afternoon had been entirely ordinary.
That evening in the hotel conference room, when Adil reviewed footage with the department heads, he played the scene only once. No discussion followed it. Vikram looked at the composition for a long moment and said quietly that the light had been handled well.
Adil accepted the comment without elaboration.
The scene stayed in the film exactly as it had been shot that afternoon, no additional coverage, no cutaways, no second attempt. Just one corridor, one camera, two people, and whatever had existed between them long before the script had given it a name.