Saiyaara is rolling like a wrecking ball at the box office. As I write this piece, the film has raked in about Rs 132 crore in net collections in just five days. Even on weekdays it has minted money in double digits, an impressive feat and a rarity for films post-Covid. Saiyaara has set new records on the ticket window. It has had the biggest opening (Rs 21 crore) for a debutant-led film since Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor’s 2018 film Dhadak (Rs 8.76 crore). Its first-day collection is the highest for any romantic film in recent times, surpassing star-led vehicles like Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt's 2023 film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (opening at Rs 11.1 crore), Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon’s Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (Rs 6.7 crore), Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Kabir Singh (Rs 20.21 crore), and Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor starrer Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (Rs 15.73 crore). Saiyaara has also proven to be the career-best opening for its director, Mohit Suri. It has already run past Bhool Chuk Maaf, Jaat, and Kesari Chapter 2 in worldwide gross collections and is eyeing the records set by Sky Force, Sikandar, and Sitaare Zameen Par.
But it is not just the box office. Scroll through social media and you will find reels of moviegoers screaming (sometimes shirtless) in agony in theatres, tearing up and fainting on seats, all of them remembering the one that got away. Not just memes, the film has also overtaken all intellectual discussions on Hindi cinema in the past week. Why is that? It's because Saiyaara is an anomaly. If you go by trade pundits and box office experts, it shouldn’t work. It is a non-actioner love story without a star-face. A pariah for producers. So, what has worked for Saiyaara?
Mystery around the actors
When Saiyaara’s trailer dropped nobody knew much about Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda. He was just Ananya Panday’s cousin, she flew under the radar with a performance in the series Big Girls Don’t Cry. If you stalk their social media profiles you won’t find any pre-release photoshoots. Only posters and updates on Saiyaara. They didn’t sit for any podcast or interview, no funny reels or paparazzi sightings. Yash Raj Films’ strategy on keeping a veil over its leads has paid off since in the name of publicity audiences were not over-exposed to the actors and their newness and charm hit harder on the big screen.
The action fatigue
Before Saiyaara dropped, Hindi cinema was inundated with big-budgeted actioners and propagandist historicals. Bollywood was trying hard to emulate the massy style of South cinema, but it was a hit-or-miss. There was a fatigue among viewers from watching gunfire, helicopters being blown up, and stars smoking everything from beedis to cigars in slow motion. Saiyaara provided a sweet respite.
The Mohit Suri touch
With Saiyaara, Mohit Suri has played on his strengths. He is one of the few directors who understands young love and its messiness. Mohit didn’t try to connect with the youth by mentioning social media or dating apps or making one of them an influencer. He stuck to what he understands. His setting is modern, but his brand of romance is old school. There is a sweet charm in that.
A pure love story for Gen Z
Saiyaara didn’t try to preach love to the new generation. It doesn’t have a top-down approach. The film is a pure love story. There is no hook, no USP. Just two age-appropriate leads with commendable chemistry in love. It gives Gen Z actors whose style they can emulate. They didn’t have to try to stomach romance between a seasoned actor and an actress half his age.
The best of Bollywood
The film only focuses on what Hindi cinema is known to do well: Music and romance. Although not all of them worked for me, the songs aren’t trying to fit into an algorithm. There is no choreography done so that it looks pleasing in vertical format. Saiyaara isn’t revelatory or path breaking but it has that old Bollywood charm which can remind viewers of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) or Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai (2000). Two new, good-looking faces, romance, and good music.
Saiyaara’s success is a lesson for the industry. And it’s not that producers should start calling up writers for romance scripts or launch every newcomer waiting in line. It’s that the formula sticks till it doesn’t, and the box office, like the weather, isn’t entirely predictable. So, it’s better to back a vision. It’s important to tell a story with conviction. Make what you know.
