Mohit Suri’s musical-romance Saiyaara is going strong at the box office. The collection of the Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda starrer has increased to Rs 24.5 crore on Day 2, as per industry tracker Sacnilk.com. The film opened at Rs 21 crore, highest for any film steered by newcomers in recent times.
This brings Saiyaara’s two-day collection to Rs 45.5 crore and it has already managed to beat the collections of Rajkummar Rao-starrer Maalik (Rs 23.27 crore), Shahid Kapoor-starrer Deva (Rs 33.97 crore), Kajol-starrer Maa (Rs 38.51 crore), and John Abraham’s The Diplomat (Rs 40.73 crore). It’s most likely to beat the earnings of Anurag Basu’s Metro… In Dino (Rs 48.47 crore) today. Saiyaara released alongside Anupam Kher’s Tanvi The Great and Sonakshi Sinha starrer Nikita Roy, both of which had dismal openings of Rs 0.40 crore and Rs 0.22 crore, respectively.
Saiyaara has achieved these numbers without its lead pair doing any promotions. Mohit claimed that like his 2013 romantic drama Aashiqui 2, starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor, he wanted to keep the pairing of Ahaan and Aneet fresh till the film’s release. While Aditya and Shraddha had appeared in a few films prior to Aashiqui 2, Saiyaara marks Ahaan’s screen debut and Aneet’s film debut. Aneet was previously seen in the coming-of-age show Big Girls Don’t Cry last year.
“It was an idea that collectively came forward. My producer Akshaye Widhani and, of course, Aditya Chopra (owner of Yash Raj Films), who has mentored us through this thing, suggested that until the two actors don’t have anything behind them to talk about, the conversation will be filled with questions like ‘Who is the prankster on the set?’ or ‘How is it to work with Mohit Suri?’ It’s all redundant stuff, and I don’t think anyone has any interest in listening to all that,” Mohit said in an interview on the YouTube channel Just Too Filmy.
With Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardaar 2 shifting its release to August 1 from July 25, Saiyaara will have a free-run at the box office for two more weeks.
Our review of the film read: “Earlier this month, director Anurag Basu gave his take on modern love and relationships with Metro…In Dino. Suri’s Saiyaara might have nothing new to say but what is alluring is that it bears the director’s authentic voice. The music, however, works better in the film, than it does on a jukebox. If you are a middle-aged millennial, vexed with Hindi cinema not coming up with anything fresh, Saiyaara will give you respite by taking you to the good old days.”
