logo
Ranbir Kapoor cheers for Mohit Suri's Saiyaara, asks paparazzi whether they have watched it. Watch

Ranbir Kapoor cheers for Mohit Suri's Saiyaara, asks paparazzi whether they have watched it. Watch

Hindustan Times3 days ago
Mohit Suri's Saiyaara, starring newcomers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, has led to the film making history at the box office. And the film's fan club has a new member, none other than actor Ranbir Kapoor. Saiyaara has surpassed the lifetime global collections of Shahid Kapoor's Kabir Singh.
Ranbir's candid moment with the paparazzi
On Thursday, Ranbir stepped out in Mumbai, where he took a moment to pose for the gathered photographers.
During the spotting, Ranbir flashed a smile as he interacted with the photographers, taking the conversation to a personal level by asking if they had seen Saiyaara, showing his interest in the film.
'Saiyaara dekhi kya? (Have you guys seen Saiyaara?)" Ranbir asked, to which the paparazzi replied positively.
During an interview with NDTV, Mohit Suri was asked about Alia Bhatt's reaction to Saiyaara. He said, 'Yes, she went to watch it in the theatre. I was inviting her to a trial screening, but she said no, she would watch it in the theatre. After watching it in the theatre, she praised it a lot. She took the numbers of both actors and spoke to them." He further added that she also showed her appreciation for the film through a post on social media.
'She also showed the film to Ranbir. Alia has been supporting this film from the beginning because she felt it carries the same emotional depth that I often infuse in my own films. She has been very supportive throughout my career, actually," he added.
Ranbir's next project
Ranbir will soon be seen in the upcoming magnum opus Ramayana. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana is intended to be a two-part film with Part 1 releasing on Diwali 2026 and Part 2 in 2027. The film stars Ranbir as Lord Ram, Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Hanuman. The ensemble cast also includes Lara Dutta, Sheeba Chaddha, and Arun Govil in key roles. The score for the film sees AR Rahman collaborate with the legendary Hans Zimmer, who is making his Bollywood debut.
About Saiyaara
Mohit Suri's Saiyaara marked the debut of Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda in Bollywood. The film follows the story of Vaani, an ambitious journalist, and Krish, an aspiring singer. Their worlds collide unexpectedly, sparking an intense romance. It takes the audience on an emotional journey as fame and personal struggles threaten to pull them apart.
The Yash Raj Films project was released on July 18 and has created history at the global box office. In just 11 days, the romantic drama has earned ₹404 crore worldwide, making it the highest-grossing love story in Indian cinema history. The film has also surpassed the lifetime global collections of Shahid Kapoor's Kabir Singh ( ₹379 crore) and Aamir Khan's Sitaare Zameen Par ( ₹264 crore).
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Influencers log out—when the likes don't pay for the rent
Influencers log out—when the likes don't pay for the rent

Mint

time12 minutes ago

  • Mint

Influencers log out—when the likes don't pay for the rent

After nine years of writing comedy scripts, shooting sketches, and chasing YouTube views, Om Suri hit pause. His channel 'Oye Omi' had nearly 73,000 subscribers, but not enough to pay his bills. Two months ago, he quit full-time content creation and is scouting for a regular job. Suri is not alone. As India's 8-million-strong creator economy gets overcrowded and unpredictable, many influencers, especially those with smaller followings, are quietly walking away from the spotlight. Shrinking advertisement revenue, inconsistent brand deals, and rising financial strain are driving creators back to the stability of traditional employment. Influencers, those who have built a dedicated following on digital platforms, are known to quit their regular jobs and pursue full-time content creation. But lately, this trend is reversing. With the millions of content creators competing for your attention and brand deals, the earnings are dwindling, and survival is becoming difficult by the day, especially for those with smaller followings or limited network to pull in regular brand work. The middle rung of influencers is the worst hit. Advertisement revenue on popular platforms like YouTube is often meagre, which influencers say ranges from $0.4 to $3 per thousand views. This financial crunch is making many creators abandon their influencer careers to return to traditional jobs. According to Suri, YouTube's financial sustainability is a challenge for many creators. "To make a living, you have to post consistently and get regular brand deals," he says. "Due to overcrowding, this has become a rat race, where all of us are competing for the same brand deals. However, brands only pick the top creators with the most followers." Suri also highlights the issues with brand collaborations. "Many brands that pay well also require the promotion of risky things such as betting or trading, which I personally rejected as a creator," he says. "Besides, larger creators are sought after, while smaller creators are mostly offered barter collaborations on Instagram, where you're only given products to promote for free; you don't earn." Indian influencers' advertisement revenues are paltry compared with their global peers. "Advertisers in India don't pay as much, so the AdSense revenue on YouTube is as low as $1 per thousand views – over 10 times lower than what is given globally," Suri says. "It is also difficult to compete against corporate giants who have created YouTube channels and creators who have a talent management agency and a team to produce content." Suri has applied to various companies and agencies for roles in creative fields such as writing, editing, or anchoring, leveraging the skills he picked up during content creation. The commerce graduate's goal now is to find a stable job that pays regularly. Aashish Gupta, another creator who zoomed out of his content journey to settle in as the talent manager of a more popular content creator, Elvish Yadav, points to a generational phenomenon of job security. 'While obviously, money is the primary factor for most creators who quit content like me, it is also the circumstances," he said. Gupta started creating content in 2018 while he was in college, and balanced it with other pursuits, including film and music production and corporate jobs. He, however, realized that content monetization has a short shelf-life. "The thing with content monetization is that it is a risky job, which one can do in their early 20s, wherein there are no responsibilities. But one can't sustain in it close to their 30s," he said. Gupta, who says he had financial commitments at home, highlights the challenges of inconsistent income and the favouring of top influencers. "This industry favours the top influencers with more followers and the ones who have a good network to get regular brand deals," he says. 'Otherwise, it is difficult to continue in this field because one month when we get a deal, we would earn around ₹10,000-20,000. But after that, we would struggle to make any money for a few months that followed... the inconsistency made it difficult to survive." Industry watchers believe that while the outflow of content creators is not alarming just yet, it reflects a deeper industry problem. "Over 2 lakh content creators have stopped producing content since 2024... This may look like a big number, but it is not alarming just yet if compared to the influx of new creators in the industry," says Anirudh Sridharan, co-founder of creator network Hashfame. Sridharan explains that the industry's growth is not likely to be hampered by this outflow, given the large number of active creators. "Against that, the outflow of 2-3% people is normal in any industry that is operating at such a scale, and it cannot hamper the growth of the industry," he says. He, however, warns this could become a bigger issue in future if the core problems are not addressed. According to Sridharan, the three primary reasons for creators quitting are mental strain, lack of monetization opportunities, and loss of relevance. "For tackling the monetization problem, we have to consider the content economy as a large army of GenZ workforce catering to their need, rather than looking at them just like a bunch of youngsters using their phones to make videos for social media," he says. Sridharan also highlights the need for more conscious investment from brands. "Brands have to invest more consciously, as currently this industry is very unorganized and operated on a manual model, where rarely do brands go beyond the creators that come on the top of their mind or are a part of their network to discover more creators," he said. This lack of discoverability leads to inconsistent income distribution, where the top 1% creators earn the largest portion of the ₹3,500 crore creator economy. He also noted that only a small percentage of creators can make a decent income. "Only 5-10% beyond that are able to make a decent income of say ₹50,000 per month," he said. The rest are either doing this part-time or struggling financially, and eventually, they may lose cultural relevance and be forced out of the business unless they constantly reinvent their content. Sandwich issue Brands say they prefer more established creators, who are more relevant because of the better return on investment (ROI) they provide with their solid metrics. However, they also say nano influencers, with sub-10,000 followers, charge incredibly low fees and even work on a barter basis in most cases, making them the second-best choice. Thus, brands mostly tap into these two categories, while leaving the rest of the influencers scrambling for deals. 'Purely from the lens of an ROI, celebrity influencers might command a premium fee, but they deliver unmatched top-of-funnel impact, typically driving a 3x–5x spike in brand searches and recall within days of a campaign. Their scale compresses the awareness curve, making them a solid financial bet when the objective is mass reach," said Murali Krishnan, chief marketing officer of food chain Wow! Momo. 'On the other end, nano influencers, consistently deliver 6–10% engagement rates, which is nearly 2–3x higher than mid-tier creators, and they do it at a fraction of the cost," Krishnan adds. "The challenge lies with mid-size micro- and macro-influencers, where their ability to deliver either deep influence or wide reach is getting diluted." The marketing chief said his brand is increasingly adopting a barbell strategy, putting major investments in celeb influencers for impact, and scaling up nano collaborations for frequency and grassroot authenticity, while being extremely selective with the middle-tier influencers, who are sandwiched between these two. Side hustles Instead of completely logging out, some content creators are creating content on the side, while focussing on their regular job. Take Macedon D'mello, who earlier created comedy-related content but has now pivoted to dance-related material on Instagram. He works full time in a digital marketing agency, while also taking up freelance choreography, acting and voice-over gigs. "One does not have to necessarily give up on content creation. I have a regular job but I continue to pursue content, create for brands and also freelance on the side," D'mello tells Mint. 'Content audience was at peak during covid, and at that time it made sense for creators to rely on it for their income completely. But if they didn't make it big, it is best for them to do it as a side hustle, while earning from other sources to balance their passion with their profession," D'mello adds. "These small creators, with 5,000-10,000 followers, who are also doing a 9-5 job with a stable income charge a basic amount… And for that, they deliver videos that are as aesthetic and polished as someone with 4–5 lakh followers. And brands get usage rights too, said Kunal Chhabhria, partner at CollabX Entertainment. Echoing Chhabhria's view, Zil Shah, a talent agent at the same firm says: 'Stability of income has become more important now. Some creators manage both, they shoot over weekends, edit at night, and work a 9-5 during the day. Others have taken a break from content completely. And this isn't a one-off case it's becoming quite common."

When Shah Rukh Khan told 'Hum Tum' director Kunal Kohli: 'I deserved the National award for Swades, not Saif Ali Khan for your film'
When Shah Rukh Khan told 'Hum Tum' director Kunal Kohli: 'I deserved the National award for Swades, not Saif Ali Khan for your film'

First Post

time12 minutes ago

  • First Post

When Shah Rukh Khan told 'Hum Tum' director Kunal Kohli: 'I deserved the National award for Swades, not Saif Ali Khan for your film'

'Fanaa was very good. I think Hum Tum was very nice. His actor won the National Award for Hum Tum when I think I should have got it, but that's another story,' added SRK. read more Shah Rukh Khan has finally clinched his first-ever National Award, a long overdue honour in a career spanning over three decades. The superstar, who has reigned over Indian cinema for 33 years with iconic performances and unmatched charisma, took to social media to share a heartfelt video thanking the government, the jury, and his legion of fans for winning the National Award for his 2023 film Jawan directed by Atlee. But his fans have been saying he deserved the award for Swades too back in 2005. And in a throwback video that has now gone viral, SRK told Kunal Kohli, 'I am good by heart. I like all films, all heroes, and all heroines). I am a simple-minded person; I like everything, including your films. I have loved them all.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Fanaa was very good. I think was very nice. His actor won the National Award for Hum Tum when I think I should have got it, but that's another story,' added SRK. Sharing the gratitude video on his official social media handle, Shah Rukh Khan captioned it with emotion and signature charm: 'Thank you for honouring me with the National Award. Thanks to the jury, the I&B ministry… Iss samman ke liye Bharat Sarkar ka dhanyawaad. Overwhelmed with the love showered upon me. Half a hug to everyone today…' It's a monumental moment not just for SRK, but for millions who have grown up watching him rule the screen. This National Award comes at a significant time in Khan's career, after a triumphant return with a string of successful films that redefined his image and brought mass audiences back to theatres in 2023 and 2024.

Varun Dhawan likes a post criticising 'Saiyaara' actress Aneet Padda, netizens say 'Most Bollywood families don't want...'
Varun Dhawan likes a post criticising 'Saiyaara' actress Aneet Padda, netizens say 'Most Bollywood families don't want...'

First Post

time12 minutes ago

  • First Post

Varun Dhawan likes a post criticising 'Saiyaara' actress Aneet Padda, netizens say 'Most Bollywood families don't want...'

Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda's Saiyaara is creating some insane and unbelievable records at the box office, which is phenomenal considering the musical drama features newcomers. The Mohit Suri directorial will mostly cross the Rs 300 mark today, which means in just 17 days, which is nothing less than historic. And it has also become the first YRF film that will stream on Netflix. Not only fans and audiences, Saiyaara garnered praise from celebs like Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Aamir Khan, Mahesh Babu, Arjun Kapoor, Ameesha Patel, Siddharth Anand, Sandeep Reddy Vanga, Karan Johar, Anurag Basu and Anil Kapoor, among others, for its storyline, direction and performances. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But there's a video that has gone viral on social media where Aneet is being criticized for refusing to pose for the paparazzi at the airport due to her shy nature, and the video has been liked by Varun Dhawan after keen observation by netizens. Why is Varun Dhawan liking a video against #AneetPadda Reddit caught Varun and screenshot it before he removes Like Or is it because Varun was considered for #Saiyaara and Adi rejected him for younger actor? The thing is Varun doesn't even follow KRK and yet he liked this… — Redditbollywood (@redditbollywood) July 31, 2025 One wrote- 'Interesting 🤔 what I feel mostly bollywood families don't want this movie to do good but destiny had other plans.' Another said, 'Do you think even if Varun Dhawan was cast as the male lead, it would have become this big? I don't think so. This Aahan kid performed so good, it's almost because of him and girl this film is doing this big.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Before the release of the movie, director Mohit Suri spoke about Saiyaara's comparison with Aashiqui 2 in an interview with Firstpost. He said, 'When I made Zeher, they said it looked like Murder. When I made Ek Villain, they said it looked like Murder 2. When I made Malang, they said it looked like Ek Villain. When I made Aashiqui 2, they said it looked like Woh Lame and Rockstar. So I think when I go ahead and make my next film, they'll say it looks like Saiyaara. I think when they're comparing it to my own work rather than somebody else's, it's good.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store