“Saiyaara” may be overly sentimental, but it offers a gripping romance about two emotionally damaged young people who fall in love and find strength in each other. The acting makes this drama better than your typical good girl-bad boy love story. “Saiyaara” has some problematic aspects in its depiction of physical abuse, but the character who inflicts it eventually becomes less toxic and redeems himself.
Written and directed by Mohit Suri, “Saiyaara” takes place between 2024 and 2026, in various cities in India (and briefly in London), with numerous settings that will delight fans of romance novels and soap operas. It's the kind of film where each partner repeatedly shouts, “I love you, forever!” at different times, without shame or sarcasm. The whole thing would be completely embarrassing if the acting were dull and unappealing.
Director: Mohit Suri
Writers: Sankalp Sadanah, Rohan Shankar
Stars: Ahaan Panday, Aneet Padda, Anngad Raaj
“Saiyaara” (told in chronological order) begins with a courthouse where people are queuing up to get married. Vaani “Vans” Bata (played by Aneet Padda), a writer in her early twenties, is a bride-to-be eagerly awaiting the arrival of her fiancé Mahesh Iyer (played by Shaan R. Gover), as that day is her wedding day. Her father, Mr. Bata (played by Rajesh Kumar), her mother, Geeta Bata (played by Geeta Agrawal), and her 12-year-old brother, Rudransh “Rudy” Bata (played by Anngad Raj), are also waiting in the courthouse.
Mahesh works for a tech company called Soulmates, whose main business is a dating app. Vaani receives a call from him while waiting in the courthouse. Mahesh tells her he won’t be there because he had to go on a business trip to San Francisco. Vaani is disappointed but says they can reschedule the wedding.
And then, Mahesh drops a bombshell: he doesn't want to marry Vaani at all. And things get worse: Mahesh also tells Vaani that he's marrying someone else: Ishika Grover (played by Rhea Gipta), daughter of Rakesh Grover, founder of Soulmates. Vaani is so devastated and shocked that she faints. Later in the story, it's revealed that this breakup sent Vaani into a deep depression that caused her to not want to leave the house for months.
Early in the film, it's mentioned that "saiyaara" means "a constantly moving star" when Vaani reads aloud some of her poems (the poems were actually written by Irshad Kamil). Vaani constantly writes poetry and other works in journals that she carries with her almost everywhere.
"Saiyaara" fast-forwards to months after the breakup. Vaani is getting her life back on track. Her father takes her to a job interview at an online news outlet called Buzzlist (obviously, it's supposed to be like BuzzFeed). On the way, Vaani notices a handsome guy in his twenties smoking a joint while riding a motorcycle. The way Vaani looks at him, she's immediately attracted to him, but he doesn't notice her.
After being dropped off outside the Buzzlist office, Vaani notices the guy arriving at the same building on a motorcycle. This time, he sees her, but they don't say anything to each other. Vaani soon discovers that his name is Krish Kapoor (played by Ahaan Panday) and that he's an aspiring rock star who sings, composes songs, and plays the guitar and piano. Krish is in a band called Josh, which has been gaining popularity as a live artist, but the band doesn't have a record deal.
Vaani is interviewed by two people: the editor-in-chief, Neha (played by Ritika Murthy), and a senior editor named Ritvik Roy (played by Mohit Wadhwa), who asks most of the questions, as he will be her direct supervisor. Ritvik doesn't seem impressed by Vaani's lack of journalistic experience or her limited social media presence. He doesn't actually want to hire Vaani, but Neha believes Vaani has potential, based on her writing.
So, Vaani is hired as an intern and will conduct celebrity interviews as part of her job. One of her first assignments will be to interview a pop superstar named Prince (played by Shaad Randhawa)—obviously not Prince, the "Purple Rain" superstar, who passed away in 2016. The Prince in this film is like an Indian version of Bad Bunny, with braids similar to Bad Bunny's hairstyle from the early 2020s.
Moments after Vaani got the job, Krish stormed into the office and attacked Ritvik for writing a review of Josh, his band, as the article focused solely on Cleo Matthews (played by Neil Dutta), whom Krish repeatedly described as a "nepo kid." Krish felt that Krish should have been the focus of the article. To top it all off, Krish physically attacked Ritvik, pushing him to the ground and punching him repeatedly.
As the volatile Krish, Panday excels in the live-action scenes and excels at portraying how Krish becomes capable of giving and receiving true love. Much of the appeal of "Saiyaara" lies in Panday's sincere and emotional performance as Vaani. In some scenes, she must display intense anger or sadness, but it's in the quieter moments when her eyes fill with tears and she says nothing that demonstrates her talent for subtle acting. Vaani is also the character with the most realistic dialogue.
Even so, this film has a "fairytale romance" feel, with breathtaking scenes set on beaches, rooftops, and vibrant stadium concerts. "Saiyaara" isn't the best film to use as an example of falling in love with an abusive person. While Krish doesn't abuse Vaani, he does abuse other people, and only behaves like a decent person after something extreme happens. “Saiyaara” is undoubtedly a film about love, but also about forgiveness and hope in times when both are difficult to find.
Yash Raj Films released “Saiyaara” in select theaters in the U.S. and India on July 18, 2025.
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