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NDTV
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Saiyaara, And The Taming Of The Tortured-Male-Rockstar
In Mohit Suri's Saiyaara, a bitter boy meets a guarded girl. He is hurting, and she is hurt. He, a singer, uses music to convey wounds, and she, a writer, uses words to cover injury. He seeks fame, and she wants solitude. As star-crossed as it comes, they are destined for a kind of love that consumes both but heals one; headed for a ruined romance where one survives and the other thrives. Such stories have a precedent, comprising mostly a man at the centre - talented but obscure, wanting love but chasing heartbreak. The ache baptises him as an artist. Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) is a telling instance. Snubbed by the woman he loves, the man uses shards of his heart to make music, and earns success. This is such a trope that when the protagonist in Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar (2011) wishes to be a singer, he is prescribed heartbreak. Although Ali designs him as a reluctant rockstar willing to forsake everything for love, his hero eventually gains everything his heart desired at the cost of his heart. This archetype of a tortured male artist is not a novelty in Hindi films. Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957), about a poet awaiting validation from a hostile world till he rejects all, is an early example. There are more, including Suri's own rendition of A Star Is Born in Aashiqui 2 (2013). Ali's Tamasha (2015) has a storyteller bleeding through the mundanity of life. In Abhishek Chaubey's Udta Punjab (2016), a biting take on Punjab's opium problem, the sole artist in the story is drug-addled. If narratives confirm broken men as a prerequisite for artistry, they also carve specific roles for women to shoulder: the breaker or the healer. She propels the man to triumph or holds his hand through the turbulence of his making. Either way, she plays a part in someone else's journey and occupies limited space even as the succour demanded of her is boundless. She imprints the art, but the artist remains a man. With Saiyaara, Suri updates the stereotypes. Krish Kapoor (Ahaan Panday) is a volatile singer. Life has been unfair to him, and he, in turn, has little patience for fairness. His father is an alcoholic, and his band members, wealthier and better connected, get more recognition in the press. Always seething, he is introduced as beating up a journalist for favouritism. Standing on the other side of the scuffle is Vaani Batra (Aneet Padda), a girl so sensitive that she will probably crumble if pushed. Sparks fly. This World Is A Tragedy One would assume this is the story, that he is broken enough to be healed. But Krish, being a Mohit Suri hero, is scripted for graver tragedies. And thus it begins: Krish and Vaani gravitate towards each other. She pieces him together, and the colour of his t-shirts becomes lighter with his heart; a faint smile hovers over his lips. Everything fits: he is a narcissist, and she is devotional; she wishes for his success, and he wishes to be successful. Then disaster strikes, one primed to elevate Krish, but which will first crush him: Vaani is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. So far, so Rockstar. On a trope-y level, the condition makes sense; as a metaphor, it works even better. Afflicted by a disorder that destroys memory, Vaani's fading into oblivion literalises the dispensable function women play in such narratives. But Suri flips the script. He uses the segue of sickness to craft a subversive coming-of-age story where gender roles are defined but not followed. An Intervention The swap happens gently, almost against the wishes of the leads. Till Saiyaara is predictable, the characters act derivative. Till the story is imitative, the ticks feel the same. Krish smokes like Kabir Singh, is called "animal" for his flying temper, and falls in love with the eagerness of Imtiaz Ali's heroes. Ditto for Vaani, who is content being a bystander to Krish's success. Yet, whenever they seek to assume these roles, Saiyaara uses the context of tragedy and intervenes. Moments before Krish's big concert, Vaani assures to be a cheerleader only to be disoriented; after Krish readies to go for his band's first concert tour, he runs back, an image that keeps repeating, from the airport to be next to her. Aneet Padda as Vaani in Saiyaara These deflections, slight on the surface, rework archaic optics. They allow the girl to bypass conventions and extract an Aditya Chopra hero, prone to seeing the divine in the person he loves, from Sandeep Reddy Vanga's universe of God-complexed protagonists. Saiyaara features a pliant female character whose path to healing assumes agency to be the central story, and a male artist willing to partake in it as the healer. The Real Protagonist Suri's filmmaking responds to this. Vaani might be lurking in the background, restricted to mostly reaction shots, but she is the protagonist. The camera is earlier established as her point of view; when she faints, the screen crumbles, and keeps finding her even when the stage is set for Krish. His big moments - a tour in India, a concert in London - keep getting interrupted by her condition. As if she is on the journey and he is playing catch-up. This thought gets reinforced when his acts, hitherto selfish, start being imbued with the care of service. He desires to flourish not for his sake but so that she can spot him from afar. Saiyaara, too, holds out, framing Krish as a rockstar, after teasing with the visual, only when the image pines with the purpose of finding her. So keen is he that grief of her absence, deployed by his predecessors as a license to be a man-child, is wielded by him to be tender, in preparation for a visit. Such selflessness is atypical of an artist but typical of a lover. Perhaps this explains the allure of Saiyaara. Suri's film tempts with the familiar tale of a misunderstood singer to crack open as a tale of two star-crossed lovers who, altering destiny, head for a remedial romance. Both survive because the other survives. The artistry - she writes, he sings - becomes a means. Songs billow from broken hearts but not as a memento of a finished story, but as an accessory to keep sustaining it. Who knew the tortured male artist is just a simp in disguise? (Ishita Sengupta is an independent film critic and culture writer from India. Her writing is informed by gender and pop culture and has appeared in The Indian Express, Hyperallergic, New Lines Magazine, etc.)
Pink Villa
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Can't get over Saiyaara? 5 Bollywood love stories on Prime Video, Netflix that'll leave your heart wounded with its climax
If you are a sucker for romantic movies, then we bet a happy ending is what your heart always wants to see. However, there are some directors who ensure that the audience leaves with tears in their eyes and a broken heart after watching the sad climax scenes. Today, we are going to list down 5 such movies that will leave your heart wounded for a long time. Caution: Don't watch these films if you cannot handle trauma and sadness. 1. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan OTT Platform: Prime Video The Karan Johar directorial starred Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma as the leading pair. The story revolves around a one-sided love that consumes a man, who goes to great lengths to forget the girl he loves, but to no avail. Ayaan (Ranbir) befriends Alizeh (Anushka), who helps him enjoy life. Their friendship grows so deep that Ayan misunderstands it as love, only to get the biggest shock of his life when Alizeh gets married to someone else. With a broken heart, he tries to move on in life with Saba (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), but realises he still loves Alizeh. The two meet in the end, but fate has a different plan in store. Alizeh, who still sticks to the fact that she considers him a good friend, passes away because of cancer, leaving the audience in tears. 2. Highway Cast: Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda OTT Platform: Prime Video Alia Bhatt gets kidnapped by Randeep Hooda in the film. The storyline revolves around how she explores herself and learns to live freely only after she is with her kidnapper. This makes her fall in love with him. Right when Randeep too realises his feelings for her, the Police, who are searching for Alia, shoot him. The climax scene will break your heart into pieces, and you will long to see their happy ending, which unfortunately, Imtiaz Ali did not show. 3. Laila Majnu Cast: Triptii Dimri, Avinash Tiwari OTT Platform: Netflix The story of Laila and Qais begins in Kashmir, from the moment these two see each other for the first time. One misunderstanding, and these two stand against each other, and Laila gets married to someone else. Years later, they meet again and realise they still love each other, but god has different plans. In the end, both of them pass away and are unable to meet each other during their last moment. 4. Dil Bechara Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Sanjana Sanghi OTT Platform: JioHotstar The story of two youths who fall in love despite the fact that the girl is suffering from a terminal illness and has little time left to live. The boy fills the girl's life with a lot of joy, fulfils all her wishes, and one fine day learns that he is going to die soon because of a relapse of illness. The story ends with the boy passing away and leaving the girl shattered. 5. Shiddat Cast: Sunny Kaushal, Radhikka Madan The story is about a boy who falls in love with a girl from his college, who then moves to London after completing their course. The movie revolves around his journey to London, despite not obtaining a visa, and his subsequent tragic accident before meeting the girl.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
When Ranbir Kapoor lost his cool after Anushka Sharma slapped him on set: ‘There is a limit to it'
Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma have worked together in several films and often speak fondly about their friendly bond. But not many fans know that their off-screen friendship was once tested during the filming of ' Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ', when Ranbir's patience finally snapped after a slap gone wrong. A slap too many on set The moment was captured in a behind-the-scenes video from the sets of 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'. In the clip, Ranbir and Anushka were seen talking about their work when an unexpected moment happened. Anushka had to slap Ranbir in a scene, but she ended up slapping him more than once. Seeing Ranbir visibly upset, Anushka walked up to him to apologise. But Ranbir was not having it. 'There is a limit to it,' he said. 'I told you not to do it, it's not a joke.' Anushka quickly responded, 'Did I do it on purpose? Are you really upset?' Ranbir, seen holding a tissue to his face, said, 'Yeah, of course, you're hitting hard.' Ranbir called Anushka a natural performer In the same video, the 'Barfi!' actor spoke about what led to the situation. He explained that Anushka takes her performance seriously and often gets fully into the moment. The 'Rockstar' actor said, 'She whacked me once, she whacked me twice. Because she is a very organic actor, you know. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Many Filipinos don't know about this! Read More Undo She is someone who is really in the moment and she wants to give a very true performance. So she whacked me again.' Anushka later explained what really happened In a 2016 interview with DNA, the 'PK' actress explained the whole situation and what caused the confusion during the shoot. She said that during the filming of that scene, she was first told to slap Ranbir for real, and later asked not to, but forgot in the heat of the moment. The 'Band Baaja Baaraat' actress said, 'So you know how scenes are shot, right? You shoot one actor first and then the other. So, they shot Ranbir first and told me to slap him for real. I slapped him. This scene is very long. So it starts and we are sitting in one place talking and then one slap happens. When they were shooting my part after his, they told me, 'Don't slap him for real.' But I got so lost in the scene that I forgot about it – it happens a lot when I'm shooting my scenes. ' Anushka added that while it was good to be immersed in a role, this time it didn't work in her favour,'That's a good thing but in this case, it didn't turn out to be such a favourable thing. I forgot he asked me not to slap him and I ended up giving one on his face. As soon as I slapped him, I was like, 'Oh shit!' And he was like, 'Why are you slapping me for real?'' She then assured Ranbir that it wasn't intentional at all. She explained 'I told him, 'I already slapped you so many times during the takes, why would I deliberately want to slap you again?' But I think he was doing some nakhra, pretending to be angry!' Their on-screen bond still shines Despite the slap incident, Ranbir and Anushka have always shared a good working relationship. Besides 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', the two actors also starred together in 'Bombay Velvet' and 'Sanju'. While 'Bombay Velvet' didn't perform well, 'Sanju' turned out to be a big box office hit. Their chemistry in 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' was loved by fans, and the film went on to become one of the most talked-about romantic dramas of that year.
Indian Express
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Decided to cast Aneet Padda in Saiyaara after brilliant first audition, recalls Mohit Suri: ‘I wanted a simple girl who is back home at 8:30 pm'
Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda-starrer Saiyaara has been in the theatres for four days now and it appears that the film is on its way to becoming one of the biggest hits of the year. In a recent interview, director Mohit Suri spoke about casting the film, which has been produced by Aditya Chopra's Yash Raj Films. He shared that while he initially wanted to cast established stars in his films, albeit unwillingly, Aditya pushed him to cast younger actors at a time when even stars couldn't draw in box office business. Talking to Dainik Bhaskar, Mohit shared that when he was toying with the idea of making a love story, he wasn't aware that Aditya was also looking for a story in the similar space. 'I gave them the story and they said this is exactly what we want to make. This is the film we want to make,' he said. He recalled that while working on the film's story and script, he was quite immersed in it, so much so that he even spoke to a few of his actor friends and requested them to star in it. After the pandemic, Hindi films have been largely experiencing a rough time at the box office and the general assumption has been that the audience won't spend money to watch new actors, which has now been proven untrue. 'I had immersed myself so much into the story that I spoke to a few actor friends of mine saying, 'Can you do a love story for me? Do it for me.' And they had said yes too. But when I met Adi sir, he questioned me why I wanted to make this film with those actors. Honestly, this is the company that has access to all the biggest stars in this country. He said we can work with everyone but this story requires actors who are 20-25, all these other actors are in their 30s, touching 40,' he recalled. ALSO READ | Ahaan Panday lived in a 'corridor' till he was 14, tried smoking at 15 with sister Alanna: 'I was the least pampered member in the family' While Mohit wondered that casting newcomers would affect the sellability of the film, Aditya believed that casting stars would help the distribution and marketing team of his firm but he insisted, 'I am telling you that you are making the wrong film. You should be making this film with newcomers.' When Mohit expressed that's what he wanted to do, Aditya initiated that he would want to invest in the film. 'I said, 'That's what I want but who will invest their money in this?' He said, 'I will do it',' he shared. Mohit recalled that Ahaan performed many popular scenes from popular Hindi films when auditioning for Saiyaara but he never felt that those auditions were 'fair.' He performed scenes from films like Kabir Singh, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Band Baaja Baaraat but Mohit wasn't impressed with any of it. 'These kinds of auditions aren't fair. Because here, you are asking people to perform the scenes that someone else has already performed at their best. You are judged by how close you can get to their performance. You can check the efficiency like dialogues and expressions but you don't really get to know until you do an original scene. So I wasn't really convinced with those scenes,' he shared in the same chat and added, 'He did scenes from Kabir Singh, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Band Baaja Baarat. They were very good but I was still not convinced.' After Mohit politely told Aditya that he wasn't convinced with Ahaan, the producer asked him to forget about the actor and asked them to go for dinner, which eventually changed Mohit's mind. He realised that he watched Ahaan transform into the character at around 3 am, and next morning, he told Aditya that he would cast Ahaan. Mohit Suri shared that he watched many auditions for the character of Vaani before finalising Aneet. 'They were very good but it just wasn't working out. We wanted a simple girl from a Punjabi background who wants to come back home by 8:30 pm, has a value system, is not some old school person but lives with the times, and there's nothing wrong with her being simple. I couldn't find that girl until I saw her,' he shared in the same chat. Mohit shared that Aneet's first audition was a self tape that she submitted and later, YRF casting director Shanoo Sharma worked with her relentlessly. 'Her first audition was a self audition shot on a mobile phone and it was so brilliant. Shanoo Sharma called her, did more auditions and showed me different takes. All the auditions that she did, she never copied anyone, she did it with her originality,' he said.
NDTV
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Ahaan Panday Has Always Been A Massive Ranbir Kapoor Fan. Here's What We Know
New Delhi: Ahaan Panday is currently basking in the limelight coming his way because of the humongous success of his debut film, Saiyaara. Co-starring Aneet Padda in the lead, this Mohit Suri film continues to break box office records. However, before his smashing debut, Ahaan Panday was a bonafide Dubsmash star. His old videos have been making the rounds online. One of them is Ahaan Panday recreating some iconic scenes and songs starring Ranbir Kapoor. From lipsing to Channa Mereya from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil to the Bachna Ae Haseeno title track, Ahaan Panday indeed is a Ranbir Kapoor fan, and there's ample proof. He also dances to Dilliwaali Girlfriend from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and performs a dialogue from Rockstar. Watch here: Knew #AhaanPanday was destined for greatness when I found out he was a fan of #RanbirKapoor — RKᵃ (@seeuatthemovie) July 21, 2025 When Ahaan Panday Was Trolled For Recreating SRK's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Dialogue While there are several snippets of Ahaan Panday doing his version of Ranbir Kapoor songs and dialogues, there is another Ae Dil Hai Mushkil of his, which led to trolling. An old video of Ahaan Panday has resurfaced, where he tried to recreate Shah Rukh Khan's iconic dialogue from Karan Johar's film. In the video, Ahaan Panday is seen voicing Shah Rukh Khan's dialogue from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, where he says, " Ek tarfa pyaar ki taqat hi kuch aur hoti hai. Auron ke rishton ki tarah yeh do logon mein nahin batti. Sirf mera haq hai iss pe." However, 2 years back, when this video went viral on Reddit, Ahaan Panday was mercilessly trolled. Saiyaara The year is 2025 now, and after prepping for 3 years, Ahaan Panday has officially made his big Bollywood debut with Saiyaara opposite Aneet Padda. Helmed by Mohit Suri and bankrolled by Yash Raj Films, the film has opened up to massive love from the audience. In A Nutshell Another Dubsmash video of Ahaan Panday went viral online, where he is seen grooving to Ranbir Kapoor songs and delivering some of his famous dialogues. These old videos have been trending again on social media amid the blockbuster opening of Ahaan Panday's debut film, Saiyaara.
