Saiyaara Review: No One Does Heartbreak Like Mohit Suri

NDTV

11 hours ago

Music is a time capsule, it takes you to your childhood, your first love, or reminds of how that petrichor feels when you breathe it in. Music can cure, and if not fully, it acts as an analgesic. Mohit Suri's emotional and musical drama Saiyaara may just be the panacea for the Hindi film and exhibition industries' problems.
Saiyaara As A Musical
Saiyaara is also a plea for film music that we must not let it die. It serves as a reminder to the viewers that "dimaag bhool sakta hai, dil nahin", a line spoken by one of the leads at a key juncture in the movie.
A good song that will stand the test of time is the reflection of a moment, a memory. Saiyaara's beats may be familiar, but there's a certain freshness to its treatment.
Its soundtrack, consisting of songs such as Saiyaara, Barbaad, and Tum Ho Toh, is both hummable as well as head-bangy. If it takes almost the whole of the music industry (there are seven composers and four lyricists in credits) to build a complete and contemporary music album, it should be made a norm.
In a nutshell, first-timers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda are (surprisingly) good. There is promise and a fire in the belly to prove their mettle -- that they deserve to be on a big screen, in a traditional Hindi musical, backed by one of the premiere banners in India, Yash Raj Films.
The Plot
The story is as old as time. Bad boy meets good girl, sparks fly, and then, there's heartbreak, sacrifice, and reunion. And, no one does heartbreak like Mohit Suri. This heartbreak is lifted by rock, emo and grunge music, and this is not a complaint.
Had it been a film from the Bhatt camp, where Mohit Suri's roots lie both family and career-wise, Saiyaara would have had at least one death or murder. Since it's a Yash Raj Film, there is a silver lining to this darker cloud.
Aneet (Big Girls Don't Lie) plays Vaani Batra, a simple, sweet, 22-year-old who makes notes in her "dear diary" lest she should forget. When her fiance leaves her at the altar, her heart is broken, she goes into a blackhole and loses her voice (metaphorically) as she stops writing.
A few months down the road, Vaani meets Krish Batra, a brooding, weed-smoking, tattooed struggling singer Krish Kapoor who pummels a reviewer (*shudders*) for taking all the credit of his band Josh and handing in on a platter to a bade-baap-ki-aulaad, his bandmate.
In a cheeky hat-tip to the nepo baby bias, Krish says to the reviewer, "Nepo baby haggenge bhi toh bhi bologe kya haga hai." No need for a reminder but Ahaan Panday is the actor Chunky Panday's nephew and actor Ananya Panday's cousin and the family should be proud.
After Krish loses his band Josh and hosh, he finds Vaani and together they are music and lyrics (also the name of a Drew Barrymore movie). Since this is a spoiler-free review, there's another, major Drew Barrymore connection of Saiyaara which the viewer must look out for while watching the film. With Mohit Suri's signature grasp on emotions and music, Saiyaara becomes a love song with convincing performances, very reminiscent of the filmmaker's Zeher, Kalyug, and Aashiqui 2 days.
A special mention for Geeta Agrawal Sharma, who has played several mother roles in the last few years in Hindi films such as Laapataa Ladies, 12th Fail, and All Indian Rank. The actor plays Vaani's protective almost obsessive mother who has been given a couple of best lines in the film. She's a class act when she drops one-liners like "Mat baha ye keemti aansoo kisi ullu le patthe ke liye" or "Meri beti time pass nahin hai".
When Saiyaara 's trailer dropped, a section of social media users were quick to compare the film with Mohit Suri's Aashiqui 2.
Saiyaara 's dialogue "Kuch pal baaqi hain mere paas" callback has the ring of Aashiqui 2 's "Suno. Kya? Kuch nahin bas yun hee" to it, and there's a strong possibility that it will become viral on social media, especially with the 20-somethings.
How Make A Story About New-Age Leads With Issues And Make It Entertaining
Both Krish and Vaani have issues, clearly.
Krish, who plays a parent to his alcoholic brawling father (Varun Badola), seeks outside validation of his potential fans until he meets Vaani, who accepts him for who he is. This is a new-age hero who vocally asks for help from the heroine when he needs it desperately. During the course of the film, just like the DP on his smartphone, his priorities also shift in life -- from himself to Vaani.
When it comes to Vaani, the biggest win is that she has a job and she's bloody good at it. When she finds out that Krish is keeping his career on the back burner for her, she asks him not to and urges him to chase his dreams. Her ex, who is a lecherous opportunist, keeps popping up in the film's second half and literally acts a trigger to everything that could go wrong with Vaani.
When Krish's father finally comes of age, the senior Kapoor tells the junior Kapoor to not repeat his mistakes. "Don't destroy yourself in the name of love," he says.
If we go by Saiyaara, we can have both the best of both worlds -- love and career -- in spite of everything. It's difficult to believe that Krish and Vaani's happy ending lasts longer than what is called a hit song today. Maybe Krish and Vaani do live happily ever after, despite all very real problems. I'll part on this note before the hangover of Saiyaara is cured by the real world.