In April, director Mohit Suri announced that he would reunite with his Saiyaara (2025) stars Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda for another romantic offering. Well, it’s almost time for the Saiyaara team to go back to the set. mid-day has found out that Suri will kick off the yet-untitled movie, backed by Yash Raj Films, in Mumbai in October before taking it to Goa. 

A source shared, “It’s an unconventional and a quirky love story. Mohit conducted the look tests in July and August. From October, he will kick off the shoot at an indoor set at YRF Studios in Andheri.”

We’re told that the first schedule will focus on the lead characters’ introduction sequences and some scenes at their respective homes.

“Then the love story will move to Goa in November. Producer Akshaye Widhani was clear that he didn’t want a bubblegum romance. It’s a mature and unconventional love story that is right up Mohit’s alley. Unlike Saiyaara, this movie will have action as well,” added the source.

If things go as planned, the project will be wrapped up by December.

Composer Tanishk Bagchi on Saturday claimed he is yet to receive `8 lakh in royalties for the title track of Saiyaara, a year after the film’s release. However, Yash Raj Films (YRF) said all payments have been made as per the contract.

Marking the film’s first anniversary, Bagchi shared a note on Instagram, saying he poured everything into the song, his first collaboration with YRF Music.

“Whatever YRF had paid me, all of that nominal amount was used to do the live and mixes... what was left was zero. That’s what I earned from a song so big.”

He added, “What hurts the most is that, as per the royalty statement, I’m yet to receive just Rs 8 lakh in royalties for a song that has gone on to do millions of streams and views across platforms. Honestly... Rs 8 lakh feels like peanuts.”

Responding to the claim, a YRF spokesperson said the Saiyaara title track was composed by Tanishk Bagchi along with Faheem Abdullah and Arslan Nizami, and royalties are shared equally among the three as agreed.

“Royalties for the title track have been shared and will continue to be shared by YRF equally between all three composers... The production house has paid every collaborator their due, as per contract, all within mutually agreed terms and time,” the statement said.

Bagchi clarified that his post, adding, “This experience has changed the way I look at this industry. From now on, I’ll only work with producers and directors who value creativity, honesty and the people who build their music.”

He also said he respected director Mohit Suri and lyricist Irshad Kamil from the film.

Soon after Pati Patni Aur Woh Do’s trailer dropped online, an unexpected discourse surrounded director Mudassar Aziz — that his movies normalise infidelity. To him, the dialogue is welcome, as long as it comes from a place of fairness. “This is my seventh film. Never before have I made a film that legitimizes infidelity,” began Aziz.

The May 15 release revolves around Ayushmann Khurrana’s character’s dalliances with two women, portrayed by Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, while his wife grows suspicious. Pointing to his body of work, Aziz said that he feels misunderstood when such criticism comes up.

“Both Ayushmann and I have a history of doing films that don’t approach gender politics in a skewed way. In Pati Patni Aur Woh [2019], the husband is faced with the consequences of his actions when his wife and girlfriend join forces. In Happy Bhag Jayegi [2016], I created a protagonist who chooses her partner. Women in my films have always had agency. They are never passive recipients of male behaviour.” For him, the film’s emotional core doesn’t lie in betrayal.

It took the director some time to convince Khurrana. Aziz shared, “We had three rounds of narrations. After the first time, Ayushmann said he wanted to hear it again. Before the third narration was over, he was having so much fun that he said, ‘Let’s do it.’ He comes with a history of subjects that are difficult. He is never afraid of complicated emotional space.”

Few Hindi movies have made an impact at the box office in the post-pandemic landscape. According to Mudassar Aziz, the audience today seeks conviction over all else — a lesson he learnt from his friend, filmmaker Mohit Suri. Aziz shared, “Nobody expected ‘Saiyaara’ [2025] to blow up the way it did, but Mohit believed in it completely. He recently said in an interview that when he was making films with conviction, commerce followed. But when he started chasing the latter, he lost both.”

As his directorial Aashiqui 2 clocked in 13 years on (April 26), Mohit Suri revisited the journey of the film that lives in the heart of the audiences.

Getting emotional about this milestone, Mohit told Mumbai Mirror, “I think the reason this film has resonated for so many years is because all of us who worked on this film — Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, the music directors and me — we all were at that stage of our careers where we were not chasing success but we had something to say emotionally. We had seen failure. Mithoon (singer-composer) and I had success with Murder 2, but Aditya and Shraddha wanted to prove themselves as they had not seen success despite being part of big films. Ankit Tiwari, who was new, sang the song Sun Raha Hai Na Tu. Jeet Ganguly (singer) was trying to do something outside his comfort zone.”

Reflecting on the phase they were all in at that time, Mohit said, “All of us went out with the intention of doing something we had never done. The pressure of the success of Aashiqui 1 was upon us, but we all went out to make a good film. Success was the cherry on the cake. I believe that when you say something with your heart, the world listens.”

He further added, “Every year no matter what happens and where she is, Shraddha always messages me on this day. We might miss our birthdays by a day or two, but we never miss this day and we thank each other for where we are today.”

Filmmaker Mohit Suri says actor Shah Rukh Khan praised the unconventional promotional strategy behind his 2025 hit Saiyaara, which skipped traditional publicity and focused on music-led marketing.

Recalling a meeting at fellow filmmaker Siddharth Anand’s Diwali party, Mohit shared, “The great Shah Rukh Khan told me this was the best thing we did.”

Instead of relying on interviews or star-driven campaigns, the team chose to keep its lead actors away from the spotlight. “Because we didn’t have stars, we focused on making great music and pushed that instead. It felt authentic, and it paid off,” he told Variety India.

The romantic musical marked Ahaan Panday’s Bollywood debut, with co-star Aneet Padda. The film went on to become a blockbuster, earning Rs. 570 crore worldwide and Rs. 329 crore domestically, and ranking among India’s highest-grossing romantic films.

“I don’t think my romantic films fit into the quintessential romantic mould,” says Mohit Suri, distancing himself from the song-and-dance template often associated with Hindi love stories. “Some of my biggest songs, like Tum Hi Ho, aren’t lip-synced. I don’t have dance numbers either. I don’t know where I fit in – it’s just my way of expressing love.”

Yet films like Saiyyara (2025), which left youngsters teary-eyed in cinemas last year, have revived the mainstream appetite for intense love stories. During his recent visit to Delhi, where he received the All India Management Association (AIMA) award for Director of the Year, he decoded love stories in a chat with us.

​Ask what he felt as a director when he saw reels coming in showing youngsters crying after watching Saiyyara, and he shares, “I’ve never been able to analyse it. I don’t know what I have or what I did that made people cry.”

After a pause, he reflects, “But I remember Pooja Bhatt telling me this very early in my career – that if anyone has been able to touch my heart, other than my father, in the films he makes, it’s you. You’ve that in you, and it’s very rare. Mahesh Bhatt also told me that.”

He elaborates, “I never went out to shoot a scene thinking, ‘In this scene, I will make you cry.’ I’ve never been able to do that. And I am not that kind of filmmaker who knows how the audience is going to react.”

​A clip went viral from a round-table discussion when everyone was talking about when they last watched a film in a cinema hall, and he turned around to his fellows and asked, “Don’t you guys go to the theatre?”

He says it was more of a surprise to him, adding, “My TV is huge. I have about a 100-inch TV at home. It’s a great experience. I’ve got great sound. Even in my office, I have a theatre, but it’s still not the theatre, because I don’t have 100 more people watching the film with me together. Humans like to watch entertainment in groups.”

He explains, “Look at cricket. Why do stadiums still get filled? Maybe not so much for a Test match, but for T20. So theatres will still get full. It’s just that the game is no longer a Test match – it’s more like T20. So the kind of content we put in theatres has to change. We can complain that people are not going to theatres, or we can get up and do something about it.”

​Are there any particular elements for a good love story? Suri explains, “In a basic love story, I think what essentially has to work is – it’s not about what’s on the page. It’s about what magic you bring about on the set. Because a love story is very simple on the page. They don’t have the thrill of lots of twists and turns or action. So it’s like — there is nothing on the page; it’s just written: he looks at her. But the way he looks at her — that is the magic.”

Citing a scene from Saiyaara, Mohit says, “Nobody reacted when I told them she takes Mahesh’s name. They were just like, ‘Oh, that’s sad.’ But the way they reacted in the theatres – people burst out crying. More than that, moviegoers cried in the last scene when they got married. And that’s a happy scene. Why were they crying there? It is because they felt validated that this girl who had left had come back. So I think that’s the magic you create on the set.” Suri believes that for love stories, “we just have to live the emotion.”

He elaborates, “That’s the only thing. You have to live with the actors; they’re living with the characters. In thrillers, you can cheat – you can use a different camera angle but in love stories, you have to bring out an emotion.”

After several reports claimed that Mohit Suri, 44, has roped in actor Ranbir Kapoor, 43, for his next project, touted to be a gangster-backed musical love story, the filmmaker rubbishes the claims.

Mohit tells us that there is no film in place yet, largely because he is still writing his next script. “No, no, it’s not (true). I’m still writing my film,” he tells us, adding that he hasn’t even reached the stage where casting conversations begin.

While the two did meet recently, he insists that it was more of a casual setup than a professional discussion. “He did call me up. So it’s just an informal discussion, but not about a film, we just met,” he shares, adding, “Ranbir has always been praising me and talking highly about me in the past… so this was not a conversation to talk about a film.”

Setting the record straight about his next project, Mohit says he is still writing the script. “The fact is the film (last directorial, Saiyaara) released in July (last year)… I need about one to two more months to at least finish my script. I’m not there yet,” he says.

At 38, Arijit Singh recently stunned fans and the Hindi film industry by announcing his retirement from playback singing. While several have expressed what they feel about Arijit’s choice, we spoke to Mohit Suri, whose films have consistently featured quintessential Arijit Singh songs, dating back to Aashiqui 2 and the iconic Tum Hi Ho. Composed by Mithoon, the song launched Arijit into stardom 13 years ago and defined his voice as synonymous with love and heartbreak. Suri last worked with him on Dhun from Saiyaara.

​On Arijit’s retirement from playback singing, Mohit said the decision didn’t surprise him. “I sensed it. He had reached a stage where he wanted to do more and not box himself into just one identity. You can’t limit his creativity. He doesn’t want to be remembered only as Arijit, the singer,” he said.

On a personal note, Mohit admits he is deeply disappointed, saying that a part of him feels like it has ended with the announcement.

He explains, “I don’t think Indian music can exist without Arijit. People see this as a full stop, but he’s not done yet. I’ve known him since he was Pritam da’s assistant. People think he was just fortunate, but that’s not true. He didn’t let himself break, and success was actually delayed for him. He’s an artiste who will never stop creating. Even if Arijit the singer slows down, he’ll be far more valuable to music and cinema. Once he sets his mind to something, he achieves it.”

​As Arijit dominated Bollywood music for over a decade, speculation grew about sidelined singers, alleged monopolies and his association with “sad songs.” Mohit, however, says Arijit’s biggest strength became a limitation imposed by others.

“Your best work often becomes the monkey on your back. Arijit sang all kinds of songs — we chose to highlight his heartbreak numbers,” he says, pointing to upbeat tracks like Ullu Ka Pattha and Galti Se Mistake from Jagga Jasoos as proof of his range. “We boxed him into Tum Hi Ho or Channa Mereya kind of songs.”

Dismissing favouritism and lobbying claims, Mohit is categorical. “Arijit never insisted on singing a song. In fact, he often pushed for the scratch singer to be retained, saying the song didn’t need him. That’s how secure he is — and many singers got breaks because of that.”

​On a parting note, we ask if Arijit’s voice could ever be replaced. “Everyone is special. I was deeply attached to KK sir, but while making Aashiqui 2, I realized I couldn’t use the same voice I associated with Emraan Hashmi for Aditya Roy Kapur. We found a new voice and that was Arijit.”

He adds that with Saiyaara, he introduced Faheem Abdullah for Ahaan Panday, showing that every generation finds its own voice. “That’s the way life works. New singers must find their space, just as Arijit once did. There cannot be another Arijit Singh. We depend on him emotionally, knowing he will nail it — but if he doesn’t make way, new talent won’t emerge. He is truly one of a kind. And yes, I’ll speak to him once he reads this.”

“There can be no music without Arijit Singh," an emotional Mohit Suri told mid-day, reacting to news that sent Indian music lovers into collective shock. On Tuesday night, in an Instagram post, the two-time National Award-winning singer announced his retirement from playback singing. "There is not one reason behind this. I have been trying to do this since a long time. Finally, I have gathered the right courage. One of the reasons were simple, I get bored pretty quick, that’s why I keep changing arrangements of the same songs and perform them on stage," he wrote.

For more than a decade, Arijit was Bollywood's go-to guy for any track in any genre. When a film needed longing, his voice delivered it. When a love story or heartbreak had to feel intimate, his timbre did the work before the lyrics even began. By the mid-2010s, Bollywood leaned heavily on Arijit. Across Hindi and multiple regional industries — including Bengali, Marathi and Telugu — he has recorded over 800 songs, including alternate versions and live-session recordings. Few playback singers in recent decades have occupied that much sonic space.

His dominance carried serious commercial weight. Industry experts estimate his net worth in the range of Rs. 414 crore (roughly $50 million), built on recording fees, tours, streaming royalties and brand associations. Annual earnings reportedly touched Rs. 70 crore in recent years.

Days before announcing his exit, Arijit released Maatrubhumi for Salman Khan’s Battle Of Galwan. A stunned Himesh Reshammiya, who composed the song, told mid-day, "I have always said that Arijit Singh understands the soul of the music composer and the melody; he is fabulous. I wish he changes his stand on not singing for films, love him both as an artiste and a human being."

While he may not take up fresh playback gigs, Arijit still has a few recorded songs lined up for 2026. One of them is Hum Toh Tere Hi Liye The from O'Romeo, composed by Vishal Bhardwaj with lyrics by Gulzar. Another is Sunhari Kirne from Gandhi Talks, composed by AR Rahman.

While he might not be taking up any fresh playback gigs, Singh still has a few recorded songs set to release in 2026. One of them is Hum Toh Tere Hi Liye The from O’Romeo, composed by Vishal Bhardwaj with lyrics by Gulzar, a romantic track filmed on Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri. Another is “Sunhari Kirne” from Gandhi Talks, composed by A.R. Rahman, which is one of the year’s most musically anticipated soundtracks.

A top suit at Sony Music, tells mid-day, on condition of anonymity, “This changes the ground beneath us more than people realize. For years, when a film album came in and there was one song, the one the trailer would lean on the one streaming platforms would push and the first question in the room was always, ‘Can we get Arijit?’ I speak for producers and insiders when I say there was built-in trust. People outside think this is just about replacing one voice with another. It’s not that simple because that's a once-in-a-generation artist. He became the sound of modern Hindi film. When that disappears, you’re filling a big void. And that’s scary when crores are riding on streaming numbers. There’s also habit to undo. Directors, actors, even lyricists were subconsciously writing for how his voice would feel. Without that anchor, the room will be quieter. Everyone second-guesses more. We’ll discover new singers, of course. But it will be hard to replace that voice.”

Industry veterans understand Singh's decision. Mahesh Bhatt, with whom Singh did a large volume of his early work, told mid-day, "I remember the first time I saw Arijit Singh very clearly. It was at the music launch of Aashiqui 2 at Super Sound in Khar—the old place, full of dust, wires, and hope. His name was announced and he was called to the stage to sing Tum Hi Ho. A shy, self-effacing young man walked up, almost apologetically, with no sense of entitlement. He didn’t claim the song; he offered it. And in that moment, something entered the bloodstream of the nation. That song didn’t just become popular, it became personal. What made Arijit Arijit was never just his voice. It was his refusal to perform himself. His singing carried no ego, no demand to be noticed. He stepped aside and let emotion speak.  So when someone asks me if I would miss his voice, life has taught me to answer this way: I have learned to say goodbye to people I love without removing them from my heart. Chaplin once said something to that effect, and it has stayed with me. Even if Arijit chooses silence, his voice will not leave us. And I don’t believe he is turning away from music—only from noise. If he sings only for himself now, that is not withdrawal. That is an artist exercising his deepest privilege. Voices like his don’t vanish. They remain long after the song ends."

Aashiqui 2 director Suri, with whose words we started, gave us an insight into his long-time collaborator's psyche. Singh first fame with the film he made and even in his last hit Saiyaara, Singh had a large role to play Suri tells us.

"I don't remember a time when he wasn't creating something. Before playback, he was an assistant. In some early music sessions of my career, I remember Arijit clicking pictures of Pritam and me at the studio. He would spend a lot of money buying a expensive camera and then tell us, these pictures are for us to remember history. Of course, I am going to miss him a lot but that said, I also understand his decision.

We all evolve as creative people in our journey and step up to find the next phase of our lives and careers. This isn't a man who will be content with himself. He has the itch of an artist. Anyone who has worked with him tell you he would give different iterations, will sit and understand the story of the film and fit his voice to suit the story. I remember during Hamari Adhuri Kahani, we did three versions of the title track. He asked me how does it end and I told him, it ends tragically. He said there needs to be defeat in the voice then. He was such an important collaborator for any director or music composer. But even at that, he was still working on someone else's vision.

May be he wants to create his own vision for himself. He is also such an immensely secure artist, pure artist as they say. There have been times he has been called in to sing a song, he has heard the scratch and said, 'Please retain what you have, I can't do what they've done'. We did Saiyaara's songs across timezones - I was in Japan and he was in Murshidabad. But after the film, his response for the movie was such an honest take. He loved the film more than Aashiqui 2 which gave him his big break. He has evolved into an artist who values the art more than himself. Wherever he goes from here and whatever he does, he will create music because for the close to two decades I have known him, I have never known him without music. That bond will be inseparable."

Of course, rumours are rife that Singh has moved to filmmaking and is currently shooting a movie in Shantiniketan that he and his wife Koel have written. The jungle-adventure project features Shora Siddiqui and Arijit’s son, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Lyricists Siddharth-Garima, who have collaborated with Singh on several hit numbers, are working on his upcoming directorial. Garima tells mid day that they weren’t shocked by Singh’s decision.

“We met him multiple times in the last one year. We saw it coming because there is a very different kind of burnout that an artist can suffer from in the Hindi film industry,” Garima says, adding that when an artiste is made to repeat his or her previous work, it takes a toll.

“When people repetitively ask you to do the same things or sing similar things, it could get to you. We were seeing that point somewhere. He sings with a lot of sincerity even now. We've seen him record and he would take 100 takes for a line in a song. His process is something else. I'm sure that process tires him out. A burnout is very easy in this industry because you have to work tirelessly and endlessly.”

To Garima, there’s also an expectation from the industry that every song should be sung by Singh. He has enjoyed a monopoly of sorts in Bollywood playback singing for over 15 years now. But it’s not something that the sits right with the singer himself, “When Alia Bhatt just came in, everyone was thinking of scripts in which Alia would play the lead. That's how it is here. Everyone makes songs here, mostly thinking, ‘Arijit gaayega’. The first time you make a really melodious number, you are already imagining how it would sound in Arijit's voice? But the kind of person that he is, he comes from a very just background. He's not the kind of person who will think, ‘Sirf main hi main hoon.’ He thinks this shouldn’t happen and there should be more people who should get a chance,” Garima says, to which Siddharth adds that Singh is “a very secure artiste”.

“People talking about him creating a monopoly has never bothered him. In fact, that is a fuel. He's enabling diversity with this decision. We have that equation with him where we make him listen to every song that we record,” the lyricist says.

Singh has lent his voice to several songs written by Siddharth-Garima, including the chartbusters Yeh Laal Ishq (Goliyon Ki Raas Leela: Ram Leela) and Satranga (Animal). Naturally, it’s a huge loss for them as collaborators.

“Sanjay Leela Bhansali always says that he values a written word and believes a singer's job is to communicate to the listener the voice in those words. that voice. When I say, ‘Yeh laal ishq, yeh malaal ishq,’ how does that line reach you? It's a singer's job entirely. And more often than not, we notice in recording rooms, singers are not really singing, not feeling the line enough. Arijit will take it to that point. That's what his contribution has been. He brings his own imagination to the song.”

So, what does Hindi film music look like without his voice, we ask the duo. “The songs that he's already sung are there as his legacy. But the music scene in Bollywood would change. And it would be a huge change. Of course, it comes as a shock to many people. But I feel this is a natural progression. There’s always space for new people. There won’t be another Arijit but there will be more people, who will get a chance. People will start thinking imaginatively,” she says. And this is something even Singh wants from the industry, shares the lyricist.

“What really irritates him is the fact that people are not thinking imaginatively enough. They are just relying on a set pattern that if we have Arijit, we will get X number of listeners. I think that has put him off from the entire scenario that oh, you want a guarantee hit song, you want him to sing that song. What about experimenting? What about thinking outside the box? It’s great for an artiste to take a step back and take into account that what’s happening around him is not okay. There was no reason for him to say that I'm not going to sing Bollywood songs anymore, but he's an extremely honest and honest person to have taken that step,” Garima shares.

But even as fans express their disappointment over the singer’s decision, Garima is sure Singh will make a comeback sometime in future. “I feel there will at some point be a comeback, like how Sonu (Nigam) ji was ruling the charts in the 90s. And then of course, there was a phase in which he faded out and then now he's back fully. So I feel before that would happen, Arijit has taken the wise call of saying, ‘Okay. Let me not create a monotony with my voice right now.’ Let people yearn for it and then probably he'll make a comeback. I'm hoping he would someday,” she smiles.

But there won’t be dearth of Singh’s music, as he is set to launch his own label. “He is going to keep making independent music. So we are going to hear him a lot more on, his own label and all of that. And not many people know but he is a very m good composer. We've written to some of his compositions. You will see him in a different light,” Siddharth says.

Following the success of Saiyaara, starring Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, anticipation has been high around director Mohit Suri’s next project. Over the past month, speculation has been rife that the filmmaker would reunite with his Aashiqui 2 (2013) star Aditya Roy Kapur. However, there was buzz doing the rounds suggesting that the actor opted out of the film after multiple discussions and script readings, prompting the makers to search for a new male lead.

Putting an end to the rumours, Mohit addressed the casting speculation exclusively with Bombay Times. Clarifying the situation surrounding his upcoming YRF-backed project, the director said, “I meet Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shaad Randhawa to play cricket. We hang out together.”

Mohit said, “Aditya is a close friend of mine, but we haven’t met for work at all. The script that I am working on is not even ready, and no discussions have happened on the same. The script that I am writing isn’t for Aditya Roy Kapur. I will reveal everything once my script and cast is in place.”

When we reached out to Aditya, he laughed and said, “The only place Mohit and I have been meeting is on the cricket field where I’ve been getting him clean bowled! So, no role is going to be coming my way from there. The news of me opting out of his film is totally false.”

There’s a lot an actor has to train in before appearing on the screen. For Karanvir Sharma, besides learning how to write stories and assist directors, the bigger challenge was to overcome his speech impediment. He had a lisp. After working with speech therapists and dialogue coaches, today, he is often told to lend his voice as a voiceover artiste. It was the first thing that hooked us to this conversation with the actor. In a chat with mid-day, Sharma talks about The Trial season two, why adaptations have become an easy fix, and why he feels he is yet to get his due. Excerpts from the interview.

I had seen The Good Wife when it was released earlier. It had been quite a gap. My directors [Umesh Bist and Suparn Varma] specifically told me not to watch it; it was the first brief he gave me. He said he didn’t want me to get limited with what the character was doing there. However, I still caught a few glimpses of it.

Absolutely, because of the memory I had of the character. It is very similar. Whoever has seen The Good Wife will see the exact arc, but it is more consolidated. The international show had about 23 episodes, but in the Indian version, we have only taken the highlights and made six episodes from it.

I may lose out [on fleshing out the] character, but crisp storytelling is the trend. People have started exploring content vertically because maybe the attention span is less these days. I think six episodes of 45 minutes each is good enough to tell a story. However, I also felt some more of my scenes could be added.

It could be both. Some time back, I did a show called 24 — one of the initial shows to be adapted from an international series. I feel nakal ke liye akal lagti hai. Somewhere they hit the right chord for the first season, so the second season of it would be highly anticipated, because when the season two of The Good Wife came out, it was the highlight of the series too. I feel Umesh Bist will fill up the gap. His last series Gyaarah Gyaarah [2024] was a Korean adaptation, and he did a good job with it. The rest is up to the audience.

Adaptations have been going on for ages, it’s just that we are noticing it now because it’s at the forefront. Even Hindi TV shows are adapting from regional shows. I was part of Shaurya Aur Anokhi Ki Kahaani, which was the adaptation of the Bengali show, Mohor. It doesn’t mean every adaptation is going to be successful. I loved Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, but that is also an adaptation of the Korean movie, [A Moment to Remember]. It’s in the hands of the director to make it connect with the Indian audience. It’s not that we are running out of ideas. It’s so difficult for original scripts to get a pass these days. You have to be a salesman more than a creative in this industry now. I wish we had more originals because we have a rich culture. 

I always criticize myself. I feel if you get too comfortable with yourself, it will be your downfall. I feel that sentiment is unanimous among actors. I had done a scene which was mediocre in The Trial. It is a regret. I broke down and cried in front of the director. My mother was hospitalized and my uncle had undergone a surgery. [I had] too many things going on. As an actor you have to keep your personal emotions on the side, but it is not always possible. The next day, it was the climax scene of my character with the whole cast. It had a lot of give and take, and you cannot miss the beat, expressions, and movements. So, I had to switch off, I couldn’t repeat the mistake. I was nervous about it, but it happened, and my director loved it.

Not at all. This was one of the reasons why I picked up The Trial. It was to show people that I can be part of all the mediums and I am a good actor. I will be very disappointed if people don’t appreciate what I have done. This is like a big comeback for me. For so many years, despite getting critical acclaim, I am not able to get out of the struggle. It’s been a decade or so since I have been acting, but I’ve never got a bad review. It has to account for something.

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Mohit Suri’s romantic drama Saiyaara has been enjoying a dream run at the box office, having crossed Rs. 500 crore globally.

While it received an outpouring of love, controversy has emerged after a section of viewers alleged that the plot was lifted from the Korean romantic drama, A Moment to Remember (2004).

Now, the film’s writer, Sankalp Sadanah has addressed the comparisons, dismissing the claims. “So much has already been said. All I can say is — the Korean film is out there, and so is Saiyaara. Watch both and judge for yourself. You’ll be able to tell whether it’s inspired, a copy, or an original,” he said during a recent conversation with trade analyst Komal Nahta.

He also shared that Saiyaara was born from a casual meeting with Mohit in Mumbai. “There was talk of a sequel to another project — Aashiqui 3 to be precise. As I was leaving, Mohit asked me to stay and listen to something. He then asked if it was worth building into a film,” Sankalp recalled.

Interestingly, A Moment to Remember is itself a Korean adaptation of the 2001 Japanese TV drama Kimi ga Boku wo Wasuretemo. Each of these three projects follows the story of a man who falls in love with a woman diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Saiyaara has broken global records and won hearts over the past two weeks. The craze reached unprecedented levels, with people thronging the theatres, and the Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda-starrer transitioned from being a young love story to a phenomenon. On The Right Angle with Sonal Kalra this week, we got the captain of the ship, director Mohit Suri, to decode the film:

It feels good to receive this love. I have been spending time with my wife (Uditaa Goswami; actor) after the release, she’s been asking me to do household things (laughs). But I take some time for myself daily from 6.30 pm to 9 pm, as I get calls from all over the country. I’ve told her to just let me feel the love. It’s taken me 20 years to be here.

He has known me since I was a child, assisting on the sets of (Awara Paagal Deewana; 2002) with Vikram Bhatt (filmmaker). We tried to work together a couple of times, but things never fell into place. Even when Aashiqui 2 (2013) and Ek Villain (2014) had done well [he encouraged me]. He never lost faith in me. For him to come out there publicly... It’s something very few people do. What else can I ask for?

We were shooting the piano scene, when Vaani (Aneet’s character) gets Krish’s (Ahaan’s character) name wrong. The way Ahaan gave that shot, and the way Aneet spoke... that was the day. I turned to our creative producer (Sumana Ghosh) and said, “I don’t know about the fate of this film, but I know we are making a great one”. When Adi sir (Aditya Chopra, producer) saw the movie in its loosest form, he said, “No matter how much this opens at, it’s going to do at least Rs. 100 crore”. I was in class eight when I saw his movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) in the theatre. I said, “This is the kind of film I want to make someday”. For him to say this... that’s what an experienced producer should do. That’s when we felt we were making something special. While the collections are most welcome, this love is something I really wanted.

Unless one is living under a rock, there is no chance they wouldn't have heard the Saiyaara title track. Tanishk Bagchi’s composition is everywhere, from radio to YouTube, from the music streaming apps to Instagram Stories. So, we catch up with the man behind the sensation and understand how he composed the song for the Mohit Suri-directed love story. Excerpts from the interview:

It’s not the first time that I’ve composed something original and got rewarded for it. But now I feel that I am a versatile music composer. You can tell by listening to a song that it must be composed by so-and-so composer. But with my songs, you won’t be able to tell if it’s Tanishk’s music or someone else’s because I’m so versatile.

It’s 100 per cent because of the market demand, survival, and what the director wants. My first preference will be original songs. But there are instances where if I don’t [create a remix], somebody else will. When a work opportunity comes to me, I can’t reject it immediately. 

The past two years [were trying] for me because there were lots of issues in my work and family. At that time, I met Mohit sir and he supported me. I didn’t have anybody to show me the way. So, I started following his vision. He told me that he needed a song for his film. I was working on a single for the last two years with Faheem [Abdullah] and Arslan [Nizami]. When Mohit sir said he needed a song, we had one called Saiyaan Mera, and Arslan had written this line, ‘Saiyaan mera tu rootha nahin hai, mausam zara sa rootha hua hai.’ We completed it and pitched it to Mohit sir. Then Irshad bhai [Kamil] wrote the entire track.

With him, there’s always an emotion behind a song. He will never say, ‘We want a promotional track.’ He’s a music-oriented director. 

After you give a super hit song, there is a lot of competition in the market, and when you say no to certain things, people think, ‘He doesn’t know how to create original music, or he only does recreations.’ This stress would seep into my personal life. Sometimes I used to earn money, at other times I didn’t. There were times when my song would be placed fourth or fifth in an album and it wouldn’t be promoted. I had composed Raataan Lambiyaan [Shershaah] and Bolna [Kapoor & Sons], but people still doubted me. 

Absolutely! I have never followed a trend. If someone asks me to make a song catering to a 15-second reel, I won’t do it. I will make a four-minute song. After Saiyaara, people are saying, ‘We believe in your original music’.

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As the popularity of Saiyaara’s soundtrack grows, Tanishk Bagchi feels like he has finally found vindication.

While the composer has delivered some of Bollywood’s biggest hits in the last few years, his success has been overshadowed by the criticism that he is inclined towards recreations.

However, the title track of Mohit Suri’s recently released romantic drama has gone on to shatter records, becoming the first-ever Bollywood song to break into Spotify’s Global Top 5. “People didn’t know the number of good original songs I composed. Par ab logon ko pata chal raha hai ki Tanishk Bagchi original songs mein bhi baap hai,” says the 44-year-old.

He’s loving the appreciation, but Tanishk also admits that this success helped him overcome a mental rut. “For two years, I was very affected by the trolling. Now, I’m happy and at peace,” he says.

As for Saiyaara’s success, the composer reveals, “Despite its new stars, I had hope ki yeh fatega.” The success was made sweeter by the fact that the song doesn’t rely on gimmicks. “There’s pressure to create viral hits. But if a track has soul and emotion, it’ll work, no matter how long it is,” Tanishk ends.

Even a filmmaker who has delivered many hits over his 20-year career can be anxious and nervous ahead of a film’s release. Director Mohit Suri, whose Saiyaara hit the screens on July 18, says he feels an enhanced sense of responsibility with the film.

He reasons, “My actors are new. This is my first collaboration with a company [Yash Raj Films] that is known for their love stories. I was always the youngest one on the set when I started out. Now I am a grown-up, shouldering people who bank on me.”

Suri is telling a love story of a young musician and a lyricist with the film that launches Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda in Bollywood. He remembers producer Aditya Chopra telling him early on that the love story needed new faces. How did he end up zeroing in on Panday and Padda?

“Ahaan was doing something with YRF before, which didn’t work out. I met him a couple of times, and his audition wasn’t working for me. I was going to meet him and say no. So, we went for a last dinner. That turned out to be a mad, raging night, where he was no longer trying to impress me. That’s when I saw the real him and saw the character come alive. I told him to stop calling me sir; he got into a bro-zone with me. When he stopped pretending to be somebody, I found the magic in him. For the girl, I went through a lot of people and a lot of rejection. Some really good options came to me, but I wanted a girl who comes from a Punjabi background – a city girl with middle-class values. It was after four months that I found Aneet.”

In March, mid-day reported about the similarities between the plots of Saiyaara and filmmaker Anurag Basu’s yet-untitled next with Kartik Aaryan (Many renditions of a rockstar’s romance, March 6). Both films look at how heartbreak influences a musician’s journey.

Ask Suri about the similarities, and he says, “I’m very close to Dada [Basu]. I have worked as an assistant [to him]. So, I met him when he called. He has the right to do that. I went and narrated this film to him. He had started his film and I had finished mine by then. He didn’t seem worried in the least. There was a Rockstar [2011] being made when I was making Aashiqui 2 [2013]. This is not Interstellar [2014] that we would worry about."

Suri had his own challenges in the film, one to live up to his own expectations and secondly to save himself from self- censoring. He says, "You know, there's a really interesting scene in the film where he gets violent with his own father. And I remember while coming in one day I saw Yash ji's statue outside. I called Mahesh Bhatt. I said, 'There's a scene that I'm shooting in the film. And this is a really good production house and I might be pushing (the envelope) too much. Maybe my morality is different, but the father and son in my film are getting violent with each other in the middle of the road'. It's emotional for me because I didn't realize my DP profile was a picture of my hand with my son's hand. And he said that, 'I know what your relation with your father was, and seeing your DP picture I know where it comes from. No matter what you do better, I know you wont get this scene morally wrong. Don't question yourself. I think the morality of the filmmaker cannot be to be agreeable. The audience will always get the honesty of a maker'."

Commerce is a big aspect of a Mohit Suri movie. "You need to make money for people to keep making films. I've been on the film set since I was 17 and I'm 44 today. More than 50% of my life, I've spent on set. I've been directing for 20 years. I have to keep giving that box office so called successes so that I can keep making films for the rest of my life."

We ask him what he thinks is broken in the system that films are not making money? "I think that there needs to be a certain discipline in how much we make a movie. The budgets of it. The problem is creative people are thinking about economics. And economics people are thinking creatively. I find at get-togethers, people talk either about fashion or business. No one's talking about a story. When we were young and our seniors got into parties, they spoke about art. I think now they talk about business and tie ups and profitability. So I think we need to bring the art back. Money will follow."

For a filmmaker, few things are as fulfilling as seeing one’s protégé follow in their footsteps. Mahesh Bhatt, who launched director and his nephew Mohit Suri with Zeher (2005) two decades ago, is proud that the latter’s film Saiyaara is reminding viewers of his blockbuster Aashiqui (1990). Just like the 1990 romantic drama had given Bollywood two new faces in Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal, the July 18 release will serve as the launchpad for Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda. The similarities don’t end there — both films are musicals.

“When I made Aashiqui, I did it with a lot of purity. I was fortunate that people connected to it and made the two newcomers into overnight stars,” recalls Bhatt. The senior filmmaker expects nothing less from Suri. 

“I expect Mohit to do the same with Saiyaara. It’s amazing to see that people have the nostalgia of Aashiqui when they are seeing Saiyaara, but I can tell you that it will rewrite the rules of what a romantic film should be in today’s time. Every new generation must surpass the earlier one. Mohit is my protégé, and I couldn’t be happier if he surpasses me in every way possible.”

In 2013, Bhatt trusted Mohit Suri to take the Aashiqui franchise forward with Aashiqui 2. As Suri has crafted another love story, the veteran filmmaker reveals that he always pushed him to take a punt on newcomers. “I’m thrilled to see him take the plunge with two talented actors. Saiyaara [feels] like a breath of fresh air. That only happens with newcomers,” states Bhatt.

Music is at the centre of director Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, which follows the love story of an upcoming singer and a songwriter. When creating the soundtrack, the composers and the director were certain that they wanted Shilpa Rao to voice Barbaad. Now, with the song of the Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda-starrer having recently released, the singer says she has been flooded with messages.   

“Music, for me, has always been about connecting with people’s emotions. Singing the female version of Barbaad allowed me to explore a different emotional perspective. I’ve been receiving so many messages from people saying they’re moved by the song, feeling heartbreak through it, even when they haven’t gone through one themselves,” says Rao. 

For the singer, working on Barbaad felt “like home” as she previously worked with the banner, YRF, on the chartbuster Besharam rang from Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan (2023).

“Mohit pushes me to go deeper. He knows how to bring out that raw, aching side of my voice. With YRF, there is an unspoken standard. After Besharam Rang, I knew I had to up my game. Barbaad is more stripped down, and that makes it powerful.”