Attention Saiyaaara’s Dazzling Debutantes...Your Time Starts Now!! Monojit Lahiri pulls back in an attempt to focus on a film that’s become a monster hit, blitzing, bending, and blowing the collective minds of the youth as seldom seen, heard, experienced, or recorded... and goes a bit further to ask a loaded question – what’s next??

Saiyaara, directed by Mohit Suri and produced under YRF, is Bollywood’s latest blockbuster, breaking box office records since its July 18th release. With newcomers Ahaan Pandey and Aneet Padda in leading roles, the film has struck a powerful chord with India’s youth through its haunting music, emotional storyline, and fresh performances. Critics praise its casting and soul-stirring soundtrack, while sceptics attribute its success to YRF’s sharp marketing and social media buzz. Regardless, Saiyaara is being hailed as this generation’s DDLJ. The real test now lies ahead: can the debut stars and creative team recreate the magic in their next film?

The Rise of a Phenomenon
In my fifty-plus years of Bollywood – watching and writing – seldom have I ever seen, heard, read, or experienced the kind of mass hysteria generated by this film, Saiyaara. Way beyond Bobby, Rocky, Betaab, and Love Story, closer to DDLJ and Kaho Na..., this Mohit Suri-helmed film from the YRF banner seems to be truly something else! Resonating big time with Youngistan, the film (released on July 18th) continues its record-breaking spree, acing box office collections and audience frenzy in a manner that has to be seen to be believed.

Presumably, a loose Indianized adaptation of a Korean film, A Moment to Remember – Mohit seems to enjoy a doctorate in getting inspired by K-dramas! This love story, with music to die for, seems to have single-mindedly lived the famous aphorism: if you are targeting the wallet, aim for the heart! Of course, what finally will or will not work with audiences and why will continue to be an enduring secret, but for now, some pluses need to be commended and applauded.

Casting, Music, and Emotional Pull
Right away, the lead players. Young, fresh, and emanating intoxicating innocence – the pure and uncorrupted kind – Ahaan Pandey and Aneet Padda were brilliantly cast, pitched, presented, and positioned in superbly appropriate brand-fit roles. Full marks to Adi Chopra, Mohit Suri, and the sharp astute casting director. An anthem on love, loss, and longing, the film’s other trump card was its music. Not foot-tapping and trendy but hauntingly melodious, melancholic, bittersweet – evoking emotions and feelings that caress the soul. The overall impact, due to the storyline, treatment, performances, and music, allowed it to instantly and passionately, in soul-searing fashion, connect with its audiences.
By tapping into the emotional spectrum, Saiyaara is being described less as a film, more as a collective shared experience. Remember, they remind us: the sweetest songs are those that tell of the saddest thoughts...

Alas, there is a flip-side too: devil’s advocates, naysayers, sceptics, and cynics who remain unmoved by the hoo-haa that continues to greet the film. They firmly state that the film’s success is really due to the immaculately orchestrated promotion and strategy powered by solid professional marketing inputs provided by the hawk-eyed and experienced YRF team. Keeping the lead pair invisible and unleashing the fab music was a super smart device to arouse curiosity and generate interest and expectation. Then, to let loose hysterical, teary-eyed influencers doing their impossible tri-voltage natak-bazi in theatres post-shows was another masterstroke for its novelty, with social media going berserk with its viral exposure. Blah, blah, blah...

Fact is, success will always attract enemies. If – as the naysayers point out – Saiyaara’s success was more market-strategy-driven with lots of help from social media and influencers, how come other biggies hadn’t thought of this line of action before? Also, tons of nepo-kids have in recent times blitzed the screen with hi-voltage publicity only to celebrate the law of diminishing returns in record fashion! Alongside the nepo-kids’ thundering sound of silence relating to the crazy success of the lead pair – total outsiders and unknown in the media – is both understandable and disappointing, whichever came first! Clearly a case of sour grapes...

Fame, Hype, and the Next Step
However, shifting lanes, for me now comes the tricky part for B-town’s newest golden jodi, the magical Romeo-Juliet who’ve zonked the mickey of Youngistan with their fabulously relatable performance. Super-experienced, insightful, and sharp Aditya Chopra of YRF; visionary and focused director Mohit Suri, who will go the distance to get what he wants; two brilliant screenplay and dialogue writers; one fantastic casting director; magical music by amazing composers, lyricists, and singers; a solid bunch of character actors lending depth and dimension to the narrative; and of course, sensitively lensed by a gifted DOP... can all this happen in their second film?

Remember, history has shown that Saiyaara – or any other mega-smash first film – provides the greatest challenge to the lead players, and most times they can’t match up. Why? Beginner’s luck? For sure, because luck – despite all the pluses on earth – is the final frontier, but of course hard work can never be dismissed. The downside of sudden success is many. For one, public expectation. The chloroformed fans will be hysterically keen to see the lead players in a film that matches up to the profile of the earlier film. Anything too dissimilar or experimental could be a problem and a turn-off, but for that they will need the combined efforts of Team Saiyaara again – and that is an impossible task.

Sudden fame is very hard to navigate because it provides insanely unrealistic reactions and responses from the world. For a person who was particularly unknown till last Friday, overnight the world is his/her oyster and any and everything is there for asking! Fame and popularity often cause major destructive problems too: lack of privacy, crazy public scrutiny, unrealistic expectations, isolation from trusted relationships, mental health issues, anxiety, depression. Non-success is more constructive because, despite initial disappointments and pain, it offers opportunities for reflection, growth, new starts, and of course less public pressure and the madness that informs it. And the less said about trolls, the better!
So dear Ahaan Pandey and Aneet Padda – zillion congrats for your blowout performance, but for now hasten slowly, because it’s always the second film which is the killer! God speed, and here’s to more from where it came...