Saiyaara, starring newbies Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, released in theatres on July 18, and to say that it has taken theatres by storm will be an understatement. The film, which stays true to director Mohit Suri's lineage of tragic-yet-romantic cinema, has triggered something in the GenZ audience, which was drifting away from Bollywood, and has brought them back to theatres, with copious amounts of crying, screaming and the most hysterical reactions, which are turning borderline scary now.
While the mass hysteria continues, the one question that bothers me is that is Saiyaara really worth these reactions? Or is it a brilliant PR move by the makers, who have realised that 'word of mouth' does not mean the lead actor giving 20 interviews in a day, but it refers to the words that people hear coming out of the audience's mouth. In case it is the latter, the PR team surely deserves a bonus!
Saiyaara's pre-release promotions
Saiyaara is being touted as the spiritual successor to Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor's Aashiqui 2, as director Mohit Suri had himself admitted that he had written the story with the intention to make 'Aashiqui 3', but it did not pan out for reasons best known to him.
While we see debutants and even seasoned actors going to each and every publication and podcast and giving hour-long interviews ahead of the release of their films, with Saiyaara, we saw a welcome change. No big events, no interviews, no over-the-top gimmicks before the release. The makers dropped the trailer of Saiyaara online, released the entire album a week before the film hit theatres, and director Mohit Suri sat for a handful of interviews two days before the film's release, that's it.
No Ahaan and Aneet were shoved into audience's faces, no woke or atrocious statements were made on podcasts, and no gimmicky reels flooded the internet. In fact, the lead actors went completely MIA, letting their work do all the talking for them. Thanks to that, the audiences were not already bored and fatigued reading about them before the film's release.
Mass hysteria in theatres for Saiyaara
And then, Saiyaara finally released in theatres on July 18, and bam! Students mass-bunked their colleges, young lovers entered theatres hand-in-hand, and heartbroken singles, well, they walked in only with the memories of their lost love. And what happened next is now all over social media.
While one man screamed his lungs out and tore his shirt, seemingly relating to Ahaan Panday’s heartbreak onscreen, another jilted lover watched the film with an IV drip in his arm. One youth nearly fainted from the emotional overload triggered by Ahaan and Aneet’s story, and another couple appeared to fall in love all over again as the boy twirled his partner in his arms, right in the middle of the theatre.
Genuine emotions or PR?
When these hysterical reactions surfaced on social media on the first couple of days of Saiyaara's release, I won't lie, I actually believed for a moment that the film might be truly tugging at the heartstrings of the GenZ. But that’s the key phrase: 'for a moment'. As more and more such videos kept cropping up on my feed, especially where people in theatres were tearing their clothes and bawling their eyes out, I was convinced that there has to be some PR machinery behind it.
And no, I am not heartless. I have cried watching umpteen Bollywood movies, but the visuals that are going viral are far from normal. That said, I have to reiterate: the PR team behind Saiyaara has cracked the code. Just the other day, I overheard two people saying they wanted to go “see what the hype is all about” after watching one of those viral clips.
So yes -- footfall is increasing, revenue is flowing, and the actors are being spared unnecessary trolling. Because this time, it’s the audience (unknowingly or knowingly) promoting the film, and not the stars.
