While Saiyaara, the much-hyped debut of Ahaan Panday, continues to shatter box office records, not everyone is sold on the dramatic wave of promotional frenzy that has accompanied its release. Veteran actor Varun Badola who plays Ahaan’s father in the film recently offered a frank and subtly scathing perspective on the marketing tactics used to fuel the buzz.
Directed by Mohit Suri and co-starring Aneet Padda, Saiyaara has become a runaway hit, crossing ₹500 crore globally with ₹300 crore earned domestically. The romantic drama’s massive box office haul, however, has been rivalled in attention by a string of over-the-top audience reactions circulating online such as people crying uncontrollably, fainting in theatres, tearing their shirts in frenzy, and, in one of the most bizarre displays, arriving for screenings hooked to IV drips.
Both director Mohit Suri and producer Akshaye Widhani have insisted these reactions are authentic and unprompted. However in a recent interview, Varun Badola offered a more grounded and critical take. Reflecting on the project’s trajectory, Varun Badola admitted that during the filming stage, no one anticipated the film would explode on such a scale. He confessed he hasn’t even seen the film yet but realized the magnitude of its popularity around the third day of release, as box office numbers surged and social media became flooded with frenzied clips from theatres.
When asked about those viral videos, Varun Badola didn’t mince words. He said that he witnessed the wave of hysteria on platforms like Instagram where people were seen engaging in what he described as exaggerated theatrics, breaking bangles, beating their chests and putting themselves on IV drips to see the film. In his view, it was the marketing team who may have taken things a bit too far. Suggesting that many of these reactions were likely staged for content, he sarcastically remarked that he was relieved no one had gone as far as breaking their legs and crawling into the theatre.
Despite his critique, Varun Badola was quick to clarify that the film’s commercial success couldn’t be attributed solely to PR gimmicks. He acknowledged that while promotions play a role, the kind of numbers Saiyaara has pulled in reflects genuine public interest. People have turned up to watch the film in huge numbers and clearly, many have connected with it.
As the film’s phenomenal run continues, it also marks the grand arrival of Ahaan Panday in the Hindi film industry.
