27 July,2025 08:49 AM IST | Mumbai | Akshita Maheshwari
A still from the film Saiyaara. Pic/X
On a weekday, Bandra's Gaiety theatre is packed. Audiences are eager to finally watch Saiyaara after the stir it created over the weekend. As the first sequence of the film begins, the cameras are already out. Everyone wants to capture this moment.
Instagram is flooded with the hysterics of "dardnaak aashiqs" who are fainting, wailing, and tearing up their shirts, right there in the theatre. Just what is it about this film and the romance genre that causes mass mania in moviegoers?
Ayesha Jayekar (name changed), 21, is a self-proclaimed fan of the "Mohit Suri Universe". She had experienced similar hysterics herself after watching Rockstar in the theatre last year. "As the end credits rolled - I have goosebumps as I am saying this - the female version of the song Tum Ko started playing while a montage of the actors' memories appeared on screen. I just lost it at that moment. All the pain of that movie came to me in one second."
Jayekar says she felt a physical ache in her chest and almost fainted. She had to be carried out of the movie hall by the staff. "I was shocked by my own reaction. I'm really not one to create a scene, but I felt what I felt."
Khushi Mundhada was 13 years old when Aashiqui 2 (2013) was released. For three months, she begged people to go watch the film with her. Finally, her cousins caved in. "I watched it from the third row - that's how packed the hall was three months after release." Mundhada, now 25, remembers the craze of the film vividly. "All you would hear all day long was [the song] Tum Hi Ho. All people talked about was Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur. Arijit Singh was born from that film."
Saiyaara is the first film in a while that has elicited this sort of reaction. "It's a fantasy. Deep down we all want someone to love us so much that they are willing to sacrifice it all for us. Even those who say âit's cringe' want that somewhere in their hearts," opines Mundhada.
"There's a syntax to these films," says Mohar Basu, entertainment writer at mid-day and author of Shah Rukh Khan: Legend, Icon, Star. "There's always a heartbroken lover at the centre, whom a lot of men, from their teens to mid-twenties, really resonate with. There's a heroine who represents an idea that a certain kind of India connects with: simple, sweet, kind - the kind of love that can heal you. All of this is packaged with an album that's a banger. Tere Naam (2003), Maine Pyaar Kiya (1989), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988)."
Every generation has their own version of this formula, and it never fails to work, "especially when we are jaded with action", adds Basu. "In the last 10 years, we haven't been able to deliver a great romance. Bring back yearning! Largely you've only had hits that are intense, male-rage films like Animal and Chhava."
Mundhada agrees, "I think we're all a bit tired of watching 50-year-old men romancing 20-year-olds. Ahaan brings back that young actor appeal. The people who are debuting now are very PR trained, very urban vibe. Ahaan brought back a mass appeal."
Pop-culture enthusiast and Bollywood buff Pulkit Kochar says, "I could understand why people are screaming or crying [after watching Saiyaara]. I liked the germ of the film too. I cried after watching the last scene in Aashiqui 2. I was 18 then."
Sceptics have deemed the reactions to be a PR move. "People just throw around the word PR without understanding it. Even if publicists see one video of a fan crying and push 10 pages to repost it, it's still a real video," says Kochar, "Even when I put up a story of people shouting at the screen, I got so many comments saying that I'm being paid to post it."
Others have pointed to the reactions being concerning. Basu says, "It becomes problematic only when you destroy a theatre or take it out on someone else. This hysteria is a part of India's cinema culture."
Jayekar says, "In a weird way, I'm proud of the fact that we're a country that reacts so deeply to love. Mohit Suri meticulously designs his films to have that reaction too. When you see Rahul call Aarohi to say, âKuch nahi, bas yuhi' that's meant to be re-enacted by couples. When Krish ties his hoodie around Vaani, it's meant to be imitated."
Saiyaara isn't for everyone. "I'll be honest, I didn't love the film either," says Aashiqui 2 superfan Mundhada, "But I can recognise that I am not the target audience. This film is tailor-made for teenagers. We had our Aashiqui 2, today's kids will have Saiyaara."
Dr Fabian Almeida, psychiatrist at Fortis Hospital, gives us insight into why the film has generated this craze. "In India, the masses look at cinema as an escape for those two hours. Later, they go back to their mundane life. So they milk the cow; they take as much as they can.
"I've heard about copycat suicides after [1981 film] Ek Duuje Ke Liye. So much so that they almost thought of making another ending altogether. This is how movies have impacted people.
"But rather than just look at the sensationalism of movies, we need to understand that there's a deeper fracture. Not everyone goes to this extent in reacting to movies. These are people battling other demons within and the movie might trigger this."
