July 20, 2025
by Carla Hay
“Saiyaara” can get overly sentimental, but it delivers as a sweeping romance abut two emotionally damaged young people who fall in love and find strength in each other. The performances make this drama better than the typical good girl/bad boy love story. “Saiyaara” has some problematic ways in how it depicts physical abuse, but the character who inflicts this abuse eventually stops being toxic and is redeemed.
Written and directed by Mohit Suri, “Saiyaara” takes place from 2024 to 2026, in various cities India (and briefly in London), with plenty of scenarios that should please fans of romance novels and soap operas. This is the type of movie where each person in the couple shouts out repeatedly at various times in the movie: “I love you, forever and ever!,” with no embarrassment or sarcasm. All of it would be completely cringeworthy if the performances were dull and unengaging.
“Saiyaara” (which is told in chronological order) begins by showing a courthouse where people are lining up to get married. Vaani “Vans” Bata (played by Aneet Padda), who is a writer in her early 20s, is a bride-to-be who is excitedly waiting for the arrival of her fiancé Mahesh Iyer (played by Shaan R. Gover) because this day is their wedding day. Vaani’s father Mr. Bata (played by Rajesh Kumar), mother Geeta Bata (played by Geeta Agrawal) and her 12-year-old brother Rudransh “Rudy” Bata (played by Anngad Raj) are also waiting at the courthouse.
Mahesh works for a techology company called Soulmates, whose main business is a dating app. Vaani gets a call from him as she waits at the courthouse. Mahesh tells her that he won’t be there because he had to take a business trip to San Francisco. Vaani is disappointed but says they can reschedule the wedding.
And then, Mahesh drops a bombshell: He doesn’t want to marry Vaani at all. And it gets worse: Mahesh also tells Vaani that he’s marrying someone else: Ishika Grover (played by Rhea Gipta), who is the daughter of Soulmates founder Rakesh Grover. Vaani is so devastated and in shock, she faints. It’s later revealed in the story that this breakup caused Vaani to go into a deep depression where she didn’t want to leave her home for months.
It’s mentioned in the beginning of the movie that “saiyaara” means “a star in constant movement” when Vaani reads some of her poetry out loud. (The poetry was actually written by Irshad Kamil.) Vaani constantly writes poetry and other work in journals that she carries around with her almost everywhere she goes.
“Saiyaara” then fast-forwards to months after the breakup. Vaani is getting her life back on track. Her father drives her to a job interview at an online media outlet called Buzzlist. (It’s obviously supposed to be like BuzzFeed.) On the drive there, Vaani notices a good-looking guy in his mid-to-late 20s who’s smoking a marijuana joint while riding a motorcycle. Based on the way that Vaani looks at him, she’s immediately attracted to him, but he doesn’t see her.
After Vaani gets dropped off outside of the Buzzlist office, she notices the guy drive up to the same building on his motorcycle. This time, he sees her, but they don’t say anything to each other. Vaani will soon find out that his name is Krish Kapoor (played by Ahaan Panday) and he’s an aspiring rock star who sings, writes songs, and plays guitar and piano. Krish is in a band called Josh, which has been getting some attention as a live performance act but the band doesn’t have a record contract.
Vaani is interviewed by two people: editor-in-chief Neha (played by Ritika Murthy) and a senior editor named Ritvik Roy (played by Mohit Wadhwa), who asks most of the questions in the interview since he will be Vaani’s direct supervisor. Ritvik doesn’t seem impressed with Vaani’s lack of journalism experience and low social media presence. He doesn’t really want to hire Vaani, but Neha thinks Vaani has potential, based on Vaani’s writing.
And so, Vaani is hired to be an intern who will do some celebrity interviews as part of her job. One of her first assignments will be to interview a pop superstar named Prince (played by Shaad Randhawa)—obviously not “Purple Rain” superstar Prince, who died in 2016. The Prince in this movie is kind of like an Indian version of Bad Bunny, including wearing braids in a way that’s similar to Bad Bunny’s hairstyle in the early 2020s.
Just moments after Vaani gets this job, Krish bursts into the office and accosts Ritvik for doing a review article on Krish’s band Josh because the article focused only on Cleo Matthews (played by Neil Dutta), whom Krish describes several times as a “nepo baby.” Krish feels that Krish should’ve been the focus of the article. To make matters worse, Krish physically attacks Ritvik by shoving him to the ground and hitting him repeatedly.
People in the office take out their phones to record this attack. Krish not only doesn’t care, but he also says out loud that he wants them to record this confrontation. He seems to expect that this fight will be posted on the Internet because he says he knows the videos will go viral. Vaani watches this ugly spectacle in shock. Before Krish storms out of the building, he hands Vaani her journal that he says she accidentally dropped outside.
Here’s the problem with this scene: Obviously, the movie wants to establish early on that Krish is a “bad boy,” but his nasty and violent temper is somewhat glorified to make him look attractive to Vaani. It’s absolutely sick in the worst way for anyone to physically abuse someone with the intention of having it recorded on video, so the video can go viral. People who have self-respect and a sense of decency for others would not think this physical abuse is attractive.
It’s a low point in “Saiyaara” that Vaani is attracted to Krish anyway after seeing his violent temper. Most people with healthy self-esteem wouldn’t want to get involved with someone who’s this abusive. Too often, movies and TV shows make it look like an abuser can be “fixed” by the right person who can love the abuser. The reality is much harsher: These types of relationships rarely have a happy ending because most abusers don’t change and often get worse.
It won’t be the last time Krish gets violent when he loses his temper. Much later in the movie, he destroys a piano that was given to him as a gift. In another scene, Krish lashes out at “nepo baby” bandmate Cleo in a band meeting by shoving Cleo around. (It’s never clear why Cleo’s celebrity parent or parent is famous.) Krish is resentful that Cleo doesn’t have to worry about money, while Krish is struggling financially.
The other band members are nameless in the movie. They are a bass guitarist (played by Karan Barnabas), a drummer (played by Yajat Dhingra), a keyboardist (played by Meehir Kukreja) and a DJ (played by Shlok Sanjay Chiplunkar). Krish’s closest friend is the band’s manager KV (played by Alam Khan), a grad student who is about the same age as Krish and the rest of the band.
In an argument between KV and Krish, it’s revealed that KV has been using the money that KV’s father has sent for KV’s grad school expenses and spending the money instead on Krish and the rest of the members of Josh. Krish threatens to quit the band and go solo. Krish admits to anyone who’ll listen that what he cares about most is to be a rich and famous superstar with loyal and adoring fans, regardless if he’s a solo artist or part of a band.
Through a series of circumstances, Krish finds himself at a rehearsal where Prince is. Krish pitches himself to be a featured artist on Prince’s next single because Prince (who is signed to YMX Records) wants to stay revelant by collaborating with a hot, up-and-coming artist. Krish makes the pitch to Prince and Vinit Rawal (played by Sid Makkar), the president of YMX Records.
During this pitch, Krish demands that if he collaborates with Prince, then Krish needs to have all of the song publishing rights to the parts of the song that he wrote. Krish auditions by singing part of a song with some of the lyrics taken from what he saw in Vaani’s journal. Vinit and Prince are impressed and ask to hear the rest of the song.
Krish immediately gives credit to Vaani and says that Krish and Vaani are songwriting partners and can finish the song for Prince. A deal is done so that in exchange for Vaani co-writing this song for Prince, Buzzlist will get an exclusive interview with Prince and he will do exclusive Buzzlist promotions on social media. This songwriting collaboration is how Krish and Vaani get to know each other. (The pop/rock songs in this movie are not spectacular but adequate.)
The romance of Vaani and Krish is a case of “opposites attract”: She is quiet, introverted and straight-laced. Krish is loud, extroverted and likes to party. Krish enjoys playing cricket, so he and Vaani have a few dates that are about playing cricket. The movie uses cricket playing as a manifestation for any confidence (or lack of confidence) that Krish and Vaani feel about themselves. As Vaani and Krish spend time together, Vaani sees how moody and self-absorbed Krish can be.
Vaani also sees a vulnerable side to Krish, especially when she finds out Krish is deeply ashamed of his widowed father Ashok Kapoor (played by Varun Badola), who has alcoholism and is known in the community for being a drunken public nuisance. Krish’s shame about his father Ashok is the root cause of much of Krish’s anger. Vaani eventually opens up about how she’s in recovery from a broken heart by being abruptly dumped on what was supposed to be her wedding day.
The rest of “Saiyaara” shows the ups and downs in the relationship between Vaani and Krish. In the early part of their romance, Vaani’s mother Geeta doesn’t trust Krish because Geeta thinks he’s a heartbreaker who will just use Vaani for sex and then break up with her. Krish goes through a life-changing experience where his maturity blossoms and his harmful anger diminishes. Krish’s transformation is mostly believable, even if some of his hokey dialogue isn’t believable at all.
As the mercurial Krish, Panday excels in the live performance scenes and does a very good job at depicting how Krish becomes capable of giving and receiving true love. Much of the appeal in “Saiyaara” has to do with Padda’s heartfelt and emotionally authentic performance as Vaani. She has some scenes where she has to show some intense rage or sadness, but it’s in quieter moments when her eyes tear up and she doesn’t say anything that show her talent with subtle acting. Vaani is also the character who has the most realistic dialogue lines.
Still, there’s very much a “fairy tale romance” aspect to this movie, which has stunning scenes that take place on beaches, building rooftops and at high-energy arena concerts. “Saiyaara” is not the best movie to use as an example of falling in love with an abusive person. Although Krish does not abuse Vaani, he’s abusive to other people, and he only changes into a decent person after something extreme happens. “Saiyaara” is undoubtedly a movie about love, but it’s also a movie about forgiveness and hope during times when it’s difficult to have both.
Yash Raj Films released “Saiyaara” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on July 18, 2025.
