'Saiyaara' Review: Ahaan Panday makes a striking debut in this tale of conflicted love
Meet Krish Kapoor (Ahaan Panday), the rebel without a cause or pause in Saiyaara, an 'intense' love story helmed by Mohit Suri who revels in telling tales of sad, tormented souls (Zeher, Woh Lamhe, Aashiqui 2 to name just a few).
The buzz around this film has also been rather intense the last few weeks. Box office pundits are decoding how a movie with newcomers raked in such a huge initial. The music, credited to an army of composers — Faheem Abdullah, Tanishk Bagchi, John Steward Eduri, Rishabh Kant, Vishal Mishra, Arslan Nizami, Mithun Sharma, Sachet and Parampara (Phew! Have I left out anyone?) — has caught on with Gen-Z. Producer YRF's unique marketing strategy of keeping the actors shrouded in mystery by avoiding media exposure has also generated ample headlines.
Frankly, there hasn't been so much positive news about an emotional love story from Bollywood in a long time, a genre many felt was gasping for breath under the weight of big scale action thrillers and comedies. I belong to the cult of cinebuffs who believe that romantic films — be they breezy romcoms or deep dramas — should never die so I will cheer for anything that brings relationships back into the cinematic spotlight.
However, Saiyaara is really hard to root for. Once again, it's that kind of movie that is burdened with the heaviness of its own imagined poignancy and greatness. The makers obviously decided to go the musical route and it's a wise decision too (more on that below) but they could have at least devoted half the resources to tell an original or compelling story. Suri is an inspired filmmaker who loves getting inspired by world cinema. His Ek Villain was a rip off of I Saw The Devil, Aashiqui 2 was a desi -fied version of A Star is Born, Zeher resembled Out of Time and so on. Saiyaara is a reimagination of the Korean hit A Moment to Remember, based on a Japanese TV drama Pure Soul which was then remade as a Turkish film. (Thank you Wikipedia!).
Despite so many 'inspirations', the story is as hackneyed as ever — two emotionally-conflicted souls come together, create some magical music and beautiful mayhem until one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The aforementioned rebel child Krish is a musician with anger management issues and an alcoholic father who falls for soft, simple and chronically depressed Vaani Batra, an aspiring journalist and song-writer nursing a broken heart. Vaani, like most nice Bollywood girls in love with bad boys, becomes the rehabilitation centre for Krish. He helps her get over her heartbreak, she helps him find direction and control his anger. Vaani's songs and Krish's music finally lead him to becoming the star he dreamt of until she learns she suffers from early Alzheimer's. From then on, it's a test of endurance for their love and our patience.
Saiyaara has been cast in the same mould as Aashiqui 2. A lot of tears are shed, the lead characters are sad most of the time and there is not a joke that is cracked in the entire run time of the film. Both lovers keep sacrificing for each other when they could have just had a heart-to-heart conversation, accepted the situation and come up with practical solutions. But perhaps practical love isn't true love! So Krish and Vaani needlessly suffer the pangs of separation, misunderstanding and heartbreak until the 'death do us part' climax — all underlined by songs on pain, love, angst etc.
Thankfully, the songs make the efforts worth it. The tracks, be it Barbaad, Humsafar or Dhun are pleasant to the ears and will be played on late night radio for a long time. But for a film based on the music industry, the portrayal of newcomers' struggles, the constant art vs commerce debate and the role of promoters is remarkably generic. Fame comes rather easy to Krish after some initial conflicts, characterised by screaming fans and whirlwind tours (conveniently shown as names of cities on screen against a montage of him singing). At one point, a character screams excitedly 'We are the most reeled artists in India', followed by an announcement of the ultimate definition of musical success in Bollywood - a concert at Wembley. The characters are flat and one-dimensional — brooding hero, simpering heroine, supportive parents, steadfast friend, mean ex, caricaturish music mogul... you have seen them all before.
The issue with Saiyaara is that it tries to be melancholic, deep, passionate and complex all at once and the effort shows. But that doesn't mean it's unwatchable. Despite the flaws, the film is quite entertaining and worth the popcorn, even if it doesn't exactly tug your heartstrings the way the makers intended it to. And the credit for that goes to Suri's handling of the debutants.
This brings us to the question you have been waiting for — are they worth the mystery?
The good news: yes. Ahaan Panday might be the latest nepo baby on the block (for the uninformed, he is Chunky Panday's brother's son and Ananya Panday's cousin) but the young man has a great screen presence and can move his facial muscles well in the emotional scenes. Aneet Padda is pretty and gives her all to Vaani's morose character. Together, they have good chemistry and make you believe in them. Definitely a far better debut than what we have seen on screen of late!
As far as immortal love stories go, Saiyaara is way off the mark. But just as a defiant member of the 'return to romance' trend, it's definitely a welcome guest at the movies. And yes, play the music on your road trips!
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