Saiyaara has become a sensation and Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda have risen to popularity. The film marks the debut of Ahaan but casting him wasn’t an easy decision for director Mohit Suri. He recalled recently that when he met Ahaan for the first time, he wasn’t sure if he would fit for the role of Krish Kapoor in the romantic-musical.
Mohit said in an interview with Zoom, “There was no convincing, no one had to push me to cast him or anything. His name was suggested by a senior filmmaker, saying that he is your Krish Kapoor, he is good. You should meet him, he is loud and boisterous. But, I met a very timid, soft spoken, and well-mannered boy. I felt like this is not what I wanted. What I want is an ill-mannered, brash boy.”
He added, “Suddenly, I realised that he was seeing Mohit Suri, the director of Aashiqui 2. So, I had to take him out for dinner. That’s what Adi sir saw and said that after that ‘if you still don’t think he’s there, then reject’. I actually went to reject him and said that stop calling me sir, call me Mohit. He took it to another step by making me bro. When I went out and hung with him at night, I found Krish Kapoor in Ahaan. I found the brash, ill-mannered, good-hearted guy.”
Mohit further added how Ahaan showed him his old audition videos when the film’s shoot was over. “After the last day of shoot got over, he sent me all his bad auditions and asked me, ‘Tell me something bro, how did you cast this boy?’ If I had seen those auditions, I would have probably not cast him. He was doing every over-the-top dialogue possible. He knows he isn’t good in them, he was just purposely sending me those videos. I said that you are a fraud, and some swear words,” recalled Mohit.
Saiyaara is being praised for its craft and performances of Ahaan and Aneet across industries. Alia Bhatt, Mahesh Babu, Ranveer Singh, director Sukumar, Aamir Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Akshay Kumar and Jyotika, are among the celebrities who have lauded the film.
