Director Mohit Suri is enjoying the success of his biggest hit yet, the romantic drama Saiyaara. While he could’ve made the film with established stars, he was advised by producer Aditya Chopra to cast newcomers. His two lead actors, Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, have become the sort of overnight stars that the Hindi film industry hasn’t seen in years. The movie is on its way to hitting the Rs 500 crore mark worldwide, an unprecedented number for a movie headlined by debutantes. In an interview with Komal Nahta, Mohit Suri spoke about Ahaan and Aneet’s talents, and said that the world hasn’t yet seen what they are capable of.
Mohit said that the two young actors are ‘far superior’ to any newcomer that he has worked with in the past. Mohit had previously worked with a young Emraan Hashmi in Murder 2, and with Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor in Aashiqui 2. He said, “I haven’t even tapped into the other dimensions they have. I remember, on the 30th day of shoot, Ahaan Panday asks my creative producer, ‘What did I do in my audition that made you cast me? I was told that I am the right one for the role!’ He has this whole other side to him where he dances like a gallery man. He can dance for front-benchers.”
Mohit continued, “You haven’t seen the videos that he pulled down. The boy is a full ‘c*****i TikToker. He’s a full, out-there, Gaiety Galaxy boy. But audiences didn’t see that side to him because it wasn’t required in Saiyaara. Aneet has a comic side to her. She called me and mimicked her mother scolding her for wearing a mask in public the other day. I couldn’t stop laughing on video call.”
Ahaan is the cousin of actor Ananya Panday, and the nephew of actor Chunky Panday. He grew up in Mumbai, and used to post videos of himself enacting scenes from Shah Rukh Khan movies on Dubsmash. A video of him dancing at his sister Alanna’s wedding reception was also widely shared online. In the same interview, Mohit Suri said that Ahaan was being groomed by Aditya Chopra for over half-a-decade, and was supposed to star in a ‘larger-than-life’ movie, but the project was cancelled after the pandemic. The YRF boss even told him that he was free to look for work elsewhere, but Ahaan stuck around.
