Saiyaara movie: A look at its impact and reception

WEB DESK: Bollywood movie ‘Saiyaara’ made a huge impact at the Indian box office, performing well across different demographics and venues, including urban areas and smaller towns across the South Asian giant.

The movie achieved a strong opening, and has been recognised as one of the best Bollywood flicks of 2025 in terms of revenue.

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Cinema chains across India reportedly are projected to collect Rs364 million, accounting for over 52 per cent of the movie’s total earnings.

As per reports, Saiyaaa set a record for the best debut for a newcomer movie since “Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai”.

The movie also garnered attention for its marketing strategies and is expected to enter the coveted “Rs 100 crore” club within a week.

Movie Saiyaara Synopsis

Saiyaara is a romantic drama that follows the story of its male lea Krish Kapoor, a singer-composer portrayed by Ahaan Panday. The female lead, Vaani Batra, is a poet and songwriter, and brought to life by Aneet Padda.

The female leader has faced personal issues after being deceived at the altar by her ex. She is struggling with her emotional state and forgetfulness.

After securing an internship at a media company, our female lead meets Krish. As expected, our brooding hunky male lead helps her out – in this case, retrieving her lost diary of lyrics. Swoon!

As is quintessential for any romantic drama, the leads slowly fall in love, with Vaani becoming Krish’s lyricist.

What is a movie with a conflict? Soon Krish encounters various encounters in his pursuit to success, compounded by his father’s battle with alcoholism. Nothing like daddy issues to soften the brooding male lead!

Borrowing directly from one of Korean movie industry’s biggest 2000s classics, the female lead is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, complicating our heroes’ budding romance.

Saiyaara Script and Direction

The screenplay was written by Sankalp Sadanah. Despite a strong box office performance, Saiyaara’s plot received mixed reviews from critics, with biggest criticism levied on the lack of coherence.

While the first half of the movie presents some good moments, the latter half has been critiqued for its narrative inconsistencies. The use of an incurable disease as a convenient plot point in romantic drama is as old as TV itself. What is a Bollywood movie without several clichés thrown in?

 Meanwhile, the director Mohit Suri was praised for the cinematography. His filmmaking style has been praised in previous works, as well. However, with Saiyaara, his direction was questioned by a critic or two.

Music and Movie Reception

The movie’s music was composed by an array of composers. Much like the movie, it also received a mixed reception. Some critics noted that the soundtrack did not fully capture the ‘essence’ of the movie.

The lyrics also failed to resonate with the critics, with many feeling they were subpar.  

Despite the mixed reviews, however, Saiyaara achieved substantial box office success. On its opening day, it collected an impressive Rs705 million. The movie set new benchmarks for ‘debutant’ pairs, surpassing previous records held by several notable movies of the 2010s.

Saiyaara also emerged as the biggest opener for the director, surpassing his earlier word ‘Ek Villain’.

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With its strong opening, the movie ranks as the fourth biggest opener of 2025 in India, eclipsed only by ‘Chhaava’, ‘Sikandar’ and the franchise ‘Houseful 5’.

Saiyaara is expected to continue it momentous box office rise over the opening weekend in India.