Saiyaara: When the audience becomes the show

Indian Express

a day ago

When sai hit theatres on July 18, few expected the kind of frenzy it would ignite. Directed by Mohit Suri and starring debutants Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, the movie is more than just a box office winner – it's a full-blown pop culture moment that has turned cinema halls into concert stages.
A viral video across the internet from a movie's show featured a fan, a man who took off his shirt in excitement to dance to the title track of the show. In another, a man is seen watching the film with an IV drip attached to his hand. Videos have surfaced online of young girls sobbing their hearts, while their friends consoled them.Social media is divided over the reception of the movie. Like any discourse, this too has two sides. But despite all the mixed reactions, it is clear that Saiyaara has somehow struck a chord.
Saiyaara tells the story of hotheaded wannabe composer Krish Kapoor (Panday) and Vaani Batra (Padda), an earnest journalist who loves poetry. Through the course of the film the two fall in love while creating music, but life throws obstacles in their way. How they navigate this complication forms the crux of the story.
Such is the frenzy of the film, that on a weekday afternoon, theatres were jam-packed with audiences from different age demographics pouring in to watch the movie. A large set of the audience had shown up only due to the online reviews and viral videos and the curiosity to know what is all the buzz and hush about. 'I should have not fallen for this. I should have just booked the ticket for Superman or something,' a man was telling his friends in the dark theater, even before the movie neared the intermission.
A lot of the videos that went viral showed audiences breaking down after watching the film, but at Inox Odeon at Connaught Place there was no extreme reaction to the film. People came, watched the film and left.
27-year-old Saniya Kapoor, who caught the film in Connaught Place said, 'The album is really good. And it is a breath of fresh air to see a romantic film after so long in Bollywood.' Khushi Khurana also had a similar opinion, she said, 'It is a one-time watch for sure. The music and the chemistry between the two leads really works. Moreover, it reminds me of the Bollywood that I grew up on. My friend had tears in her eyes.' At the heart of the craze is the film's music. Composed by Mithoon, Sachet-Parampara, Tanishk Bagchi, Rishabh Kant, Vishal Mishra, Faheem Abdullah and Arslan Nisami, the film's soundtrack is being majorly credited for the movie's popular appeal.
The movie also comes at a time, when across industry the market is in more favor of high-action flicks. 17-year-old Samriddhi and 18-year-old Shreya who had come to catch the early evening show in the PVR Inox in Mall of India, Noida said that movie worked really well for them because it was not over the top dramatic. 'The movie was to the point, and I think it really explains the concept of love well. And the chemistry between the leads and their acting was also really good.' 22-year-old Varshika says, 'The combination between the protagonists and their chemistry worked really well. The music along with it just added to its beauty.'
What has also worked in the movie's favor is the lack of promotions, which has helped in building curiosity. A large number of audiences who showed up at the theatre were after seeing the online frenzy or through word of mouth. But it still doesn't really justify the extreme reactions of having a breakdown and fainting after watching the movie. Not to dismiss anyone's emotions, Saiyaara is not as devastating as the reaction shows, instead it has a happy-ending that leaves its audience hopeful.
More telling is, though, how the conversation around Saiyaara has shifted from what's on screen to what's happecinemaning in front of it. The viral videos feel less like spontaneous outpourings and more like staged performances engineered for Instagram clout. Theatrical audience behaviour — shirtless cheering, flash mobs in auditoriums —reads as performance, not passion. It's fandom flattened into content.
What Saiyaara ultimately captures is not just a hunger for emotional storytelling, but the way virality now manufactures impact. The line between genuine fan connection and orchestrated gimmick is increasingly blurry — and Saiyaara walks it expertly. Whether that's a testament to the film's power or a sign of the industry's evolving PR machinery is a question the next box-office 'phenomenon' may answer more clearly.