What made Saiyaara click?

Film trade Analyst Komal Nahta is all praise for the recently released romantic film, Saiyaara. The romantic flick, directed by Aashiqui 2 fame director Mohit Suri and produced under the banner of Yash Raj Films, stars debutant Aneet Padda and Ahaan Panday, the cousin of Ananya Panday.

Initially expected to be a semi-hit, this romantic film led by debutants exceeded the expectations of cinemagoers and film trade experts when it surpassed an estimated Rs 400 crore at the worldwide box office.

Nahta compared the popularity of the film with Hrithik Roshan’s debut super-hit movie Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai, which took the box office by storm in 2000.

In an interview, Nahta said, “It (Saiyaara) is one of the finest films to have come out of Bollywood in recent times. In the last, probably, 20-25 years, I can say that I have not seen a similar kind of craze as it is for Saiyaara. The last time we witnessed this type of euphoria was at the release of Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai, which was Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel’s launch pad.”

Nahta further shared the reasoning for the immense popularity. He believes that the makers struck the right chord with the first teaser of the film, which was fuelled by the periodic release of songs.

The film expert believes that a huge opening of Saiyaara was inevitable.

“I think they had hit the nail on the head right from the first teaser. The first teaser came out and took the nation by storm, swept the youngsters off their feet because the hero and the heroine both looked so wonderful and so compatible. And then, they started releasing one song after another. Each song was a musical delight. And the picturisation was extraordinary. So, people actually started making up their minds that we have to watch this film. Come what may, we have to watch this film. And then, the trailer of the film came out. I think that sealed everything. That was the final proof that this film was going to get a fantastic opening; it was done and decided.” However, that was just the halfway point for the film to reach the zenith of success at the Indian box office. What mattered was for the film to live up to the expectations of the viewers, which it undoubtedly did, as per the Rs 400 crore box office collection of the movie.

“Then of course, when the film was released, I think it more than lived up to the expectations. The expectations had reached sky high because of fantastic music, fantastic song picturisations, wonderful boy and girl, and lovely chemistry. It’s not easy to live up to those expectations. But because the film had such merits, it lived up to those expectations, it surpassed those expectations, and the results are for all to see,” said Nahta.

Saiyaara has been creating a buzz in the industry not only for its giant box office collection but also because of the reactions of viewers in the theatres after watching the film. Videos on various social media platforms shared by fans showed people inconsolably weeping after watching the film in theatres.

Some were also seen dancing in the theatres with happiness. As the reactions went viral, many media reports referred to it as post-promotion of the film, calling it inorganic and fake.

Nahta said everything in the film is organic and admitted he too sobbed after watching the film in theatres. “Everything is organic. I mean, all you need to do is go to the cinema hall and see for yourself. You don’t ask Chat GPT and Grok to comment whether Saiyaara is actually a hit or it is an orchestrated hit by YRF or Aditya Chopra or the powers that be. I mean, how idiotic is that? All you need to do is buy tickets for eight cinemas or six cinemas in your city,” said Nahta.