A few days before I finally looked at “Saiyaara” during his beginnings in Netflix, I had the privilege of seeing “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” for the first time in theaters. The Hindi film par excellence (directed by Adityya Chopra, which produced “Saiyaara”) always excels for all the reasons as 30 years ago, the same reasons which maintained it for voracious crowds for so long.
Something else, however. The shy girl, the Ruffian. While Vaani (Anneet Padda) sat with Krish (Ahaan Panday) in “Saiyaara” by Mohit Suri and asked him not to smoke or swear, my mind flashed in Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol) in the barn where she kept warm. Women are simple, innocent, who need protection; Men are wild, free and inevitably attracted by the right path to love these women.
Now Vaani Batra is almost certainly clinically depressed, and it is not his fault. His fiancée threw him by telephone call while she was waiting for him at the courthouse six months ago, and meet Krish – not to mention working with him, binding with him – causes a kind of overload of the system. I will protect the great twist that I myself managed to escape for three months, which gives the film its emotional power that you ask (not me!).
“Saiyaara” made her debut in American theaters on July 18, quickly becoming the second most profitable Indian film in 2025 and the most profitable Indian romantic film (a statistical that comes to warning “Kabir Singh” as a romantic film). Indian films generally remain in American theaters for a week or two, but a month later, “Saiyaara” played several times a day at Times Square AMC Empire Theater, an indicator of successful success.
Online, “Saiyaara” has taken over the Bollywood algorithm on any platform. From remixes to memes through the emotional reactions of fans, the film claimed a fiercely faithful and in particular young audience which has probably not linked to something so strongly for years.
The reality is that the commercial Hindi cinema has established a shocking bar in the past decade; Action films that earn great at the box office but offer nothing new or November and notable romance that eliminates romanticism from romance; And launches after launching the next generation of high -performance talents that are never up to its inheritance and still persist. There are highs – like three films Shah Rukh Khan in a year, “Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani”, “ – But they arrive in the middle of the stockings (I will not name them, but at least the memes were fun).
In this context, almost everything on “Saiyaara” is refreshing. There is a real story seen from start to finish (thanks to the source material: “at the time to remember” from South Korea) – Krish’s musical career, Vaani’s return to herself, and the way they advanced together – and a solid soundtrack by Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah, Arslan Nizami, Vishal Mishra, Rishabh). Vikas Sivaraman’s cinematography does its best to avoid the overexposed airograph look of his contemporaries. Panday plays an artist tortured convincingly alongside Padda in difficulty, and most of the screen time is devoted to their twinning instead of introducing a tertiary excess.
But seeing “Saiyaara” praised because the savior of the industry did not inspire me as he is supposed to do. The frequentation of the theater in India is also examined as in the United States, with more and more old films under reduction to stimulate ticket sales. The same questions continue to increase. Will they never make films as they did? Have social media ruined public engagement? Have we lost a breed of star? While films in Hindi and world cinema are looking for answers, “Saiyaara” is only a piece of the puzzle – and hopefully, a guiding light of dark times.
“Saiyaara” is now in difficulty on Netflix.
