Director Mohit Suri had his biggest hit yet with the romantic drama Saiyaara starring newcomers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda. The film is on its way to now break Box office records and has already hit the ₹400 crore mark, making it the director's biggest hit.
The movie’s leads being debutants in the Hindi film industry makes it’s success impressive.
In an interview with Komal Nahta, Mohit Suri dicussed young actors’ talents and said that the world hasn't seen what they are capable of. Mohit called them “far superior” to any other newcomers he has worked with in the past. He said, “I haven’t even tapped into the other dimensions they have. I remember, on the 30th day of shoot, Ahaan Panday asks my creative producer, ‘What did I do in my audition that made you cast me? I was told that I am the right one for the role!’ He has this whole other side to him where he dances like a gallery man. He can dance for front-benchers.”
Before Saiyaara, Mohit Suri had worked with a young Emraan Hashmi in Murder 2, and with Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor in Aashiqui 2.
The Saiyaara diredtor also added, “You haven’t seen the videos that he pulled down. The boy is a full ‘cringe TikToker. He’s a full, out-there, Gaiety Galaxy boy. But audiences didn’t see that side to him because it wasn’t required in Saiyaara. Aneet has a comic side to her. She called me and mimicked her mother scolding her for wearing a mask in public the other day. I couldn’t stop laughing on video call.”
Ahaan Panday is the cousin of the actor Ananya Panday and the nephew of Chunky Panday. Ahaan grew up in Mumbai and used to post videos of himself enacting scenes from Shah Rukh Khan movies on Dubsmash. Mohit Suri had also said that Ahaan was groomed by Adithya Chopra for over half a decade and was supposed to star in a “larger-than-life” movie, but the project was cancelled after the pandemic by YRF, the production company behind the film.
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Mohit said that Ahaan was heartbroken that the film got cancelled and said that it killed his pride. The YRF boss even had told him to find work elsewhere, but Ahaan stuck around.
Saiyaara is now the second-highest-grossing film of the year, with two new debutants, setting a record. Directed by Mohit Suri, the film has become a sensation with its moving plot, music and performances.
