Saiyaara — An Old School Bollywood Romantic Movie We Didn’t Know We Needed
Saiyaara proves that the romantic genre can thrive without comedy or toxicity
Bollywood had always been famous for its romantic movies. It is due to romantic movies and their melodious songs that Bollywood became the soft power of India. People across the world still hum songs like “Pyaar hua ikraar hua”, “Dil deewana bin sajna ke”, “Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam”, and many more. Bollywood romantic movies thrived when they came packaged as a family entertainer that consisted not only of nibba nibbi love but also good cultural values and comedy that everyone can enjoy.
But the good cultural values gradually began to be ignored by the filmmakers. The focus shifted to adding more romance and comedy. Till this point, we were fine as we were transitioning into a new world where people were breaking away from orthodox family expectations and embracing liberal values.
But the problems began in the 90s when toxicity began seeping into the “romance”. It began with the hero being a stalker and sometimes a murderer. The hero died a villain’s death, but was portrayed by charismatic actors, due to which the audience began liking such characters. Another form of toxicity was an extramarital affair that was normalized through the rom-com genre.
Bollywood reached its peak of toxic romance with Kabir Singh. Since good romantic movies became rare in the last decade, people embraced the movie as it was technically very well made, and both the boy and the girl loved each other genuinely. After Aashiqui 2, for many years, Bollywood fans had no romantic movie to truly celebrate. The situation was so bad that a few scenes of romance in Shershaah were received with joy by the fans of the romance genre.
And then Saiyaara arrived this year, tapping into the formula of Aashiqui 2. — Fresh faces with good performances, superb music that still melts hearts and gives goosebumps, good direction, and a technically well-made movie based on a tried and tested script. And today’s generation, Gen-Z, was bestowed with the movie for their generation to celebrate romance that comes without the baggage of societal norms, family pressures, or cheating.
I had my doubts about the movie, based on its trailer. I could sense that the movie would be well-received, as the dearth of good romantic movies was palpable. I had bet my hopes on the wrong film to revive the romantic genre (Metro… in Dino). We didn’t watch the movie on the big screen as it felt like a rehash of Aashiqui 2 and Rockstar. Also, the Instagram reels about extreme reactions by the audience upon watching the movie made me distance myself from the movie. I had to stop my wife from humming the title track of Saiyaara because she was completely under its spell after listening to it on many Instagram reels.
But then I heard its songs last month, because I was getting bored at home as my wife was at her parents’ place. This was the second time I heard the jukebox of a movie or a show on YouTube (while my wife was away for some work) before watching the movie or show, and I fell in love with it even before watching it. The first time was Bandish Bandits Season 2. Then I watched the music videos of the Saiyaara title song and Dhun. The quality of drama, emotions, music, everything blended in one small video gave me the glimpse and the feel of the movie I needed to want to watch it.
My wife and I watched it on Netflix as soon as she spotted it there. And I realized one thing — romance doesn’t need comedy or toxicity to thrive. It doesn’t need caste discrimination or honor killings woven into the plot to make it an engaging or memorable watch. A simple movie about two people in love helping each other heal emotionally and vowing to spend an eternity with each other is what romance means. It is unfortunate that family or ambitions puncture and sometimes destroys such love bonds.
When any young boy or girl thinks of romance, they won’t think of financial problems or societal disapproval as part of their love story. And yet, that is a part of our reality and also our movies. Mohit Suri, in both Aashiqui 2 and Saiyaara, doesn’t make it easy for our lovers. He puts a very formidable challenge for them to overcome. These challenges also exist in reality. The difference in both these movies is that the challenge brings them closer rather than pushing them apart. It tests their love to such an extent that they are ready to sacrifice for the other person.
Saiyaara, however, scores over Aashiqui 2 because of two things. First is the challenge they face, which is something nobody can escape. One can escape addiction, family pressure or financial problems, but not the challenge in Saiyaara. Second is how they decide to live with the challenge, which finally leads us to a happy ending. This makes Saiyaara a romantic movie that gives hope, and that is why it won’t disappoint you.
I remember being smitten by Aashiqui 2 in my 20s, which made me desperate to have my own Aashiqui moment, and I made some bad decisions. I wonder if I’d watched Saiyaara in my 20s, I’d have gone crazy. I am glad that it isn’t titled Aashiqui 3 but something more interesting. To discover the meaning of the title and its connection to the movie, watch it on Netflix.
I hope Saiyaara paves the way for film producers to invest in other genres and for actors to consider working in them, rather than just mass masala movies with hero worship. Stree and its sequel had proved it earlier for horror comedy. Looking forward to such movies in other genres too from Bollywood.
