With Saiyaara, The Season Of Love Returns To Bollywood, But Will Herd Mentality Ruin It?

The season of love is back in cinemas. The recent success of Saiyaara has reaffirmed the genre's timeless appeal. In the midst of South action, historical dramas, patriotic themes, horror comedies, and big star-driven sequels, Saiyaara represents a resurgence of the classic Bollywood romantic musical genre, breaking records with an intense old school romance featuring newcomers that emphasizes emotional depth, soulful music, and relatable, grounded characters rather than fantasy elements. Saiyaara was followed by Dhadak 2 that explores a gritty, societal love story challenging caste divides, which director Shazia Iqbal suggests redefines romance beyond typical glossiness. The genre's return is also being supported by Gen Z's rediscovery of timeless romantic classics from the 2000s through re-releases and streaming.

“Every generation wants a QSQT (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak) of their own,” says Sajid Ali, director of Laila Majnu, the film that got a lot of love when re-released in 2024. “These very young people are the drivers. I was very surprised with the response I got for Laila Majnu. Most youngsters who were lapping up the film were in the age group 12-13-14 whereas we thought we were making Laila Majnu for the age group 30 to 40. This is another dimension. We think teenagers would go for animation, superhero, and Marvel movies, but they also have sensitivity that is not being catered to; they try to seek it and films like Saiyaara gives them that,” says Ali.

The Bollywood romance genre is a vast landscape encompassing iconic love stories like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, modern romantic comedies such as Jab We Met and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, tragic romances like Devdas, and intense dramas like Veer-Zaara. Popular examples also include Kabir Singh and Raanjhanaa or contemporary hits like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

However, certain movie directors feel that the genre has been ignored by a segment of filmmakers as Sanam Teri Kasam writer-director (of directorial duo Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru) Vinay Sapru points out – “Certain sections of filmmakers had come in between who probably didn’t believe in this genre and they stopped making these kinds of films. The narrative created in the creative world was -- ‘Love stories are uncool, singing songs is uncool’.” Interestingly, the re-release of Sanam Teri Kasam around Valentine's Day this year was a success due to a combination of factors: strong fan demand, a successful online campaign, and the film's appeal as a classic Bollywood romance. Fans, particularly a younger generation, had been actively requesting a re-release, and the film's emotional storyline and music resonated with audiences, even after its initial release as a 2016 flop. “Resurgence is misplaced because this genre of romances had never gone anywhere. Songs are an integral part of love stories. Somewhere a certain segment of filmmakers felt how can a hero break out into singing a song, so the whole genre of romantic films was sidetracked,” adds Radhika Rao.

Agrees film exhibitor and distributor, Akshay Rathi as he defends the intrinsic role that songs and dance play in Bollywood movies. “When it comes to romantic films with debutants, music becomes one of the biggest draws at the box office. Irrespective of any genre of films, music is an inherent part of Indian cinema. It is a part of our storytelling style as the Indian entertainment fraternity and I truly hope that we can continue to not be apologetic about it and continue to really leverage it well to draw traction with the audiences in the biggest way possible,” says Rathi.

“Audience always wanted to see a love story. Radhika and I cater to youth, to youngsters. When you have crossed over that age and you are watching Godfather or Scarface or action films but we tend to forget the younger generation for whom the first kiss, the first love, the first hug, dreams of getting married, dreams of getting into relationships, getting a boyfriend ...there is a generation coming which is always into that kind of cinema and you suddenly stop making cinema for them. You start doing this big historical period films…I am not saying to stop such subjects ...but love stories, young adult genre films which have been forever there ..from Mills & Boon to Barbara Cartland to our own Gulshan Nandas, Yash Chopra ...can’t be ignored. In between we often heard that Hindi films are not doing well and that South films are doing better and that is because somewhere we left the thread of what the audience wants,” says Sapru.

While Ali, too, feels that the romance genre has been ignored for a long time, he also attributes it to the “cyclical phase” of the industry. “The hearts of young people beat more (laughs). We all want our bibles and each generation will keep asking for it and we in the film business should be able to cater to that. I don’t know the reasons why we stopped making romantic films but a lot of it is cyclical. There was a time for South action movies, there was a time for rom-coms when many of those were working and that was the demand of people. Now the wheel has turned back to pure love stories. That is why Laila Majnu and Sanam Teri Kasam worked when re-released. I don’t remember seeing a pure romance for a long time, the last was probably Aashiqui 2, so for a long time we had not seen a ‘rasbhara’ love story. In today’s day and age where the world is at its peak of advancement and technology and people especially the youth, they have so much going on in their lives that they need some respite. They need some escape. They also need some old-world charm, something that they can belong to, something that involves them emotionally. We are living this fast life where everybody is disconnected, they need some connection to fill that void. They are probably looking for a pure love story that stirs them up,” says Ali.

However, many film trade experts and exhibitors fear herd mentality in a scenario where almost every genre of film has done decent business at the box office in the last few months. “As an industry we have the problem of bhed-chaal. When we saw four big-scale action films working, everybody chose to keep making those kinds of films while the idea for business to be sustained in a good manner is to mix up genres so that every section of social strata has something in theatres that appeals to them. Now my worry is that with Saiyaara working, there would be 46 other young love stories that would be made, out of which 45 would be horribly made. The key is to mix it up and that is something we need to do a little more proactively than we do currently,” says Rathi.

Rathi continues, “Coming up is Param Sundari, which is a classic romance; then Anurag Basu’s Aashiqui 3 or whatever that will be called, then there are many more in this musical romance genre coming up now that Saiyaara has succeeded to the magnitude that it has. It is a matter of time before many more of those will get announced very quickly. Let’s hope for the fact that movies across genres do well because the last two months has been outstanding for the business, and movies across genres have done exceedingly well, from F1 to a Raid 2 to a Kesari 2 and now Saiyaara. There are enough comedies, horror films, suspense thrillers, and social dramas being made. We are mixing it well as a fraternity, and I hope this continues to happen with consistency."

“Fortunately, or unfortunately, it is the industry’s mentality that if something works, then everybody wants to pursue that. The market gets exhausted, and then they are looking for the next thing to slay. I hope that the market for love stories doesn't get saturated in the next three to four years. I am going to be part of the crowd,” laughs Ali, who has a script ready for his next romantic film.

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