'Gen Z was devoid of love stories with sad endings like Heer Ranjha, Laila Majnu or Romeo Juliet; they have never seen something like this in their lifetime.'
'Saiyaara is a rooted love story.'
In a cinematic landscape dominated by action thrillers, OTT crime dramas, and formulaic entertainers, Saiyaara has emerged as a surprise blockbuster.
Two weeks post-release, the film continues to pull crowds into theatres, even on weekdays, indicating a rare phenomenon.
"People crying inside theatres became a talking point for the movie," Movie Trade Analyst Girish Wankhede," tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff. "When you create discussions around the film, it works in its favour."
What has made Saiyaara such a big hit? What is working for the movie?
There are several reasons.
Firstly, The fresh pair of lead actors. They were kept under wraps; there was no publicity around them. The curiosity around the lead pair was built up and people wanted to see these new mysterious actors.
Secondly, the music. It connected well with Gen Z.
Yash Raj has never worked with multiple music directors. I think this is the second time they did. The last time they tried this experiment was with Byomkesh Bakshy (2015).
In Saiyaara, there are six music directors (Mithoon, Sachet-Parampara, Tanishk Bagchi, Rishabh Kant, Vishal Mishra, Faheem Abdullah, Arslan Nizami).
Thirdly, Director Mohit Suri has a track record of hit films, from Ek Villain to Aashiqui 2.
The hero's broken character, which is a trademark of Mohit Suri movies, played an important role to make this film acceptable to Gen Z.
Fourthly, Saiyaara had a solo release, so there was no competition. It was released on 3,400 screens and on the first day, the movie earned Rs 21 crore (Rs 210 million). The word-of-mouth publicity was so good that on the second day, it earned Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million) and on the third day, the movie earned Rs 37 crore (Rs 370 million).
In just three days, the movie earned Rs 83 crore (Rs 830 million).
Fifthly, the marketing strategy worked. People were posting their videos after watching the movie. They were crying in the theatres while watching the movie.
Do you feel these audience crying scenes were not real but a marketing strategy?
It can be a marketing strategy and even if it was, it was good.
People crying inside theatres became a talking point for the movie.
When you create discussions around the film, it works in its favour.
I saw this happening for movies like Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981) and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). I have not seen something like this for the last 37 years of my life.
This was euphoria for the young generation.
Gen Z was devoid of love stories with sad endings like Heer Ranjha, Laila Majnu or Romeo Juliet; they have never seen something like this in their lifetime.
All they are seeing is an excess of action films or dubbed (South Indian) films or OTT or Hollywood films.
Somewhere, you need solace. You need to breathe.
Now, Saiyaara has become a repeat value movie.
I would say it is a wonderful film with great music, great acting where fresh faces have acted like seasoned actors, a great director and a sad end.
I felt the film ended on a happy note.
I don't think it was happy. There is a certain sadness as the heroine gets early Alzheimer's. It is like the 1981 movie, Sadma.
But in Sadma, Sridevi walks out on Kamal Haasan in the end. That's not the case in Saiyaara.
The sad part of Saiyaara is the dominant theme of the movie. It talks about separation.
Even in Chhaava, the climax scene -- the torture scene -- connects with the audience. That pain connects.
Even here in Saiyaara, the pain and sadness connects with the audience.
You had stated that the Saiyaara hero, played by Ahaan Panday, is a broken character. He's non-committal in relationship but suddenly finds himself committed to this girl with Alzheimer's disease. Did that touch the audience?
Today's young generation is vagabond and selfish.
They can relate to this Saiyaara hero because he is focused on his art and profession.
He is selfish too and that really connects with Gen Z of today.
Just like in the 1970s, we had an angry young man in Amitabh Bachchan, who connected with the unemployed and anti-establishment youth of those times.
The audience was missing this connect for a very long time.
Yes, we saw it on and off with actors like Aamir Khan (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak) and Salman Khan (Maine Pyar Kiya, Tere Naam).
Tere Naam also had an element of sadness and great music, that's why it was a hit.
Indian audiences were devoid of love stories for very long time.
A month before the release of Saiyaara, a film trade analyst said that love stories will not work in Bollywood as the young generation is only interested in sex and lust. Love has disappeared from their lives.
Does Saiyaara defy this logic?
Love will always exist.
We Indians love to watch love stories.
Our upbringing is all about love and longing with stories like Laila Majnu, Heer Ranjha or Romeo Juliet.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali remakes Romeo-Juliet after every four-five years, right from Hum Dil De Chuke Hai Sanam to Bajirao Mastani.
Indians by default are lovers of love stories and good music.
But suddenly, there was a dearth of these love stories in our movies.
Love stories are here to stay if you make it in the right combination.
When Ghayal became a hit in 1990, Director Raj Kumar Santoshi proved that action films work at the box office. That same year Aamir's Dil, a love story, became a superhit. The year before that, Maine Pyar Kiya became a hit.
Two dozen love stories were being made but suddenly an action film like Ghayal worked. How do you explain this contradiction?
Different emotions always exist in society.
We accept love stories, action and even comedy films. We love all sorts of stories.
It is only that we were not looking at love stories for a very long time because we do not have many such films on OTT platforms. Even if they are there, they are too modern and flashy. Saiyaara is a rooted love story.
Do you feel producers will now make more love stories?
Yes, 100 percent! Every producer will try to make Saiyaara.
There was a love story Sairat made in Marathi in 2016. After the movie became a hit, everybody made Sairat for the next five years.
Every Marathi producer was saying their film is better than Sairat.
The same thing will happen with Saiyaara. Producers will try to launch new artists by saying we are making a love story which will be better than Saiyaara.
This will become a saturated zone and then producers will shift to another genre.
In August, there are releases like War 2 and Coolie, so the attention will shift to action movies.
Action, comedy and love stories are here to stay. This is the usual trend.
What do you think is Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda's future?
They will get more films.
Yash Raj has already signed a contract with them.
In the past, Yash Raj has launched actors like Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma, so they will do the same with these actors.
Yash Raj understands the modern way of story-telling but yes, in the movie industry, no one knows what works.
Kumar Gaurav failed after giving a great hit, Love Story in 1981. On the other hand, Salman Khan became a star after Maine Pyar Kiya.
We never know what will work but it looks like Ahaan and Aneet will have a great potential future.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
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