Why is Saiyaara winning hearts (and the box office)?
It's important to understand that there is no definitive formula to determine what works for the audience. Anyone who claims otherwise is either lying or has no sense of the creative business - especially when it comes to cinema. You simply can't predict the public's mood. There's no right answer to why one film clicks at the box office while another flops.Sometimes, it's about the nation's collective sentiment - like 'Pathaan', where audiences rallied behind Shah Rukh Khan after his son Aryan was arrested in a drug-related case. Sometimes, it's an anticipation built on legacy - like 'Pushpa: The Rule', riding on pure love for the franchise.But, 'Saiyaara'? Truth be told, it offers nothing new except its fresh faces. The love story is classic Mohit Suri - passionate, emotionally charged, where the leads wear their hearts on their sleeves and are ready to take on the world. The film shows old-school romance and doesn't even claim to redefine love. So then what is it? What is making audiences flock to theatres, express their emotions so loudly, and become almost unapologetically involved with what's unfolding on screen?The answer probably lies in what made 'Sanam Teri Kasam' re-release so surprisingly successful earlier this year. That film - available for free on YouTube - worked like magic in theatres. And 'Saiyaara' seems to be setting the same trend... again.The film has its heart in the right place. It talks about emotions that are timeless but still not fully understood. You see, when it comes to the matters of love, no matter how wise or experienced, no one can claim to understand it entirely. Love is as complex to process as it is to feel. But, across generations, cultures and languages, one truth remains: when you fall in love, you do it with all you have, and all you are. 'Saiyaara' leans into that truth.advertisementIt tells a familiar story in a language we all understand - music. 'Saiyaara's' music is its soul. Mohit Suri spent around five years collecting these melodies, crafting a world where every note feels like a line of poetry written in calligraphy. Even the trailer and promos kept things mysterious. Who were these two? How did they fall in love? What broke them so deeply? Did they ever meet again? Did one of them die? The air of curiosity pulled viewers in. And when the story of Krish Kapoor, a rising singer, and Vaani Batra, a shy songwriter, unfolded on the big screen, it broke the internet and the box office alike.'Saiyaara' speaks directly to this generation. It reflects their disillusionment, their buried trauma, and their search for meaning in a hyper-curated world. Krish wants to make it big the old school way, while the world chases blue ticks over real talent. Vaani simply wants to exist quietly in an age obsessed with loud influencing. Their parents are trying - sincerely and awkwardly - to help them shine while protecting them from a world they no longer understand. It's all heartbreakingly relatable.advertisement'Saiyaara's' biggest win is this: it has brought an entire generation back to the theatres - a generation far more comfortable watching (and creating) content on their phones and iPads. For them, going to a theatre is an outdated idea, reserved for family outings or Marvel finales. And yet, they showed up. Not because of hype, but probably because they felt something.They say love is a universal language - maybe they also meant it's a generational one. The Hindi film industry has spent years churning out romantic-comedies, romantic-actioners, romantic-thrillers - all in the name of love. But 'Saiyaara', despite its familiar tropes, revives a genre that's been missing from the big screen for far too long. And history tells us that when Bollywood truly invests in a soul-stirring love story, magic happens.From 'Aashiqui' to 'Aashiqui 2', 'Rockstar' to 'Kabir Singh', 'Veer-Zaara' to 'Sanam Teri Kasam', Hindi cinema has consistently struck gold when it tapped into the ache of eternal, unwavering love. 'Saiyaara' treads the same path but brings along some magical music, grounded settings, and characters who feel real. They don't romance in the Swiss valleys or flaunt the Guccis and Drios of the world. They aren't fighting monsters or chasing world domination. They are just two people trying to heal, love, survive - and maybe, build something together.advertisementYou don't need to prepare yourself to watch 'Saiyaara'. No need to know character arcs or past stories. You just walk in, hum along, feel something, and walk out a little more emotional than when you came in. It's entertainment, yet, but it's also effortless and, therefore, massy.And perhaps that's exactly why 'Saiyaara' is working.It doesn't scream for attention. It doesn't try too hard to reinvent the wheel. It simply reminds audiences of the kind of cinema that once made them fall in love with love. At a time when every film is obsessed with being clever, loud, viral or franchise-worthy, 'Saiyaara' is just sincere.It offers no pretense, no big statements - just two people, their emotions, and the melodies that stitch them together. It's like the cinematic equivalent of a long-forgotten love letter: timeless, comforting, and deeply personal. In the noise of everything else, probably a whisper of a film that manages to reach the loudest corner of the audience's heart.So why is Saiyaara working? Maybe the real question is - why wouldn't it?- EndsTrending Reel
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If you are young and this movie made you cry, ask yourself this question
A nomad interested in twisting the kaleidoscope of science and looking for new patterns I am not a movie buff, and hence it takes a lot for a movie to catch my attention. So, Saiyaara is clearly a phenomenon, more so because everyone who saw had the same experience. It appears that Saiyaara is the romantic anthem of recent times, but with a difference. It is making young people CRY. This is what has forced me to dare engage with the most pragmatic and wise people that ever walked the planet, i.e., people who are under 35 today. As I have interacted with them on various platforms, ranging from students of IIM or NID and even state universities, the first thing I have noticed that in any class that I walked in, my students were wiser than me about the ways of the world. I have noticed that my students always knew why they were in the class room. They were there to get a degree and go out to make money. Nothing more, nothing less. If I asked about their dreams, the answer was always the same. They were very clear. They will make money. They will retire. They will travel the world. This may sound completely normal to you if you are young. But, for me, a man from Gen-past, this was a huge surprise because all we could dream of when we were young was to get the girl/guy we were madly in love with. We were clear too. We wanted to our love interest to speak the three magical words of 'I love you'. And that was it. Our colleges led to as much education as heart breaks or moments of bliss when the other person also said, 'I love you'. Reality that money is the prime mover of the world did hit us, but it was a thereafter-realisation that arrived once we had passed the test of love. Due to this (misplaced?) priority for love that we suffered from, we were prone to crying in the romantic movies. So crying in the movies was not an exception but a norm, for our generation. What we know for sure is that your generation is not like us. Even if we try to think otherwise, your generation that doesn't believe in mincing words always makes it clear to us. So, What doesn't make sense is that you are crying!!! And if you are crying, I suggest that you need to introspect and find out why. As I am from a generation where people fell in love without the pragmatism that your generation has, I have a humble proposition for you to consider, especially because we have experienced the power of love. Look within. You could be crying because you too must have loved just like every other generation. The problem is that your realism must have led you to question that feeling using logic. So, while your heart must have gone down head over heels, your cynicism would have made you rationalise it as a stupid waste of time. You would have put your biological love to the test of financial and worldly realities and it would have fared poorly, making you bury it. While you must have forgotten about it and got busy with work and career, knowing love, let me tell you something that I know. The world may have moved on (as per you), but love is a very stubborn and ancient force that never believes in following the world. Love has a job to do which is considered to be of paramount importance by the mother-system called Life-on-Earth. You may want to make marketing presentations and climb the corporate ladder or build a start up and sell it for a billion dollars, but love doesn't care wee bit. All it wants is that you go through the inconvenience of going forth and multiplying just as your ancestors have done continuously for almost four billion years. You may have managed to forget it by being a realist (to your imaginary reality), love will never forget or forgive (as it responds to the actual and the only reality in which you exist as a body). You may or may not have realised it, but what made you cry is the love that you thought you have buried and moved on. But as love never believes in giving up, on itself or you, it is the culprit that would have made you cry. I know that love is tough but you think you are tougher. You may have momentarily lowered your guards, allowing love to surface but now you would be back to your desk calculating Mutual Fund gain of the day. The movie and the emotions you felt would get crushed under your wisdom about how materialistic is the world, but I have a request. Every generation before you has succumbed to love, and you too are here because someone loved. So, what you are trifling with or ignoring is something bigger than everything that humans do while existing on this planet. Love may seem like an inconvenience now, but as you age, you will realise that burying something so potent is a very dangerous idea. Burying it is not going to work. It has not worked for the entire history of humanity and it is, hence, unlikely to work just because you think you are rational. Today it was a temporary angst caused by the movie, tomorrow it will be deep regret as love is the only binding force human brain can have. If you don't bind using love, all that you will end up with is loneliness. This loneliness would by like an abyss that no amount of wealth or travelling will be able to fill. If you do manage your dream of an early retirement, all you would end up will be more lonely time. If you have cried, I see a ray of hope. Love within you is buried but still is alive as an emotion. If you have cried, you have a chance to reclaim it. Think about it. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
