Directed by Mohit Suri, ‘Saiyaaraa’ gave the industry two new stars overnight in the form of Ahaan Panday and Anit Padda. The film had the biggest opening ever for any love story with newcomers. Eventually, it grossed over Rs 300 crore at the domestic box office. The film’s success suddenly caused a stir in the industry. In fact, trade experts say that the success of the film with newcomers gave many big stars sleepless nights and the insecurity in the industry is so high. Taran Adarsh claimed that some members of the industry “gave sleepless nights” over the film’s success. Komal Nahta further said that a leading male actor was “clearly nervous” after learning that the figures were real and “not manipulated in any way.”
Now Mohit Suri was asked about this and he spoke about the reactions to the film. The ‘Aashiqui 2’ director said, “My intention was not to create a stir in the industry. But to create a stir in my own life. I had made a sequel before this, and I had not made a good film. Suddenly, everyone started rejecting me. You have to understand that if you are in the industry for 17 years and make a sequel with stars and it does not do well, people want to reject you. I have never been like that. I have always been a young man on the set. Many actors who have had sleepless nights might have rejected me.”
He further said, “This stir was my own life. I did it my way. Everyone can clearly see that this looks like my kind of film. If other people are rejected by it, so be it.” Mohit revealed that after the poor performance of “Ek Villain Returns”, some films were taken away from him. Though he didn’t directly name Aashiqui 3, he had earlier admitted that the script for Saiyaara originated from that project. He said his aim was to avoid falling into the trap of making a “package” and go “organic”.
Speaking to Faridoon, Komal Nahta revealed how widespread this mistrust was. “I didn’t name the actor so as not to embarrass him. But whatever I wrote, that he is having sleepless nights, that he is constantly on the phone asking if the figures are correct, every word of that article is true, I swear. The only thing I have misrepresented is how many films that person has done, but only to save him from embarrassment.”
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