Mohit Suri's much-anticipated romance drama, Saiyaara, had an impressive start at the box office on Day 1.
Saiyaara earned Rs 21.25 crore on its opening day, reported Sacnilk. The film had an overall 49.90% Hindi occupancy on July 18. The morning shows began with a 35.51% turnout, which grew steadily throughout the day-reaching 46.62% in the afternoon, 50.85% in the evening and peaking at 66.62% during the night shows.
The film's box office performance is expected to grow over the weekend.
In the film's review, Radhika Sharma of NDTV wrote, "First-timers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda are (surprisingly) good. There is promise and a fire in the belly to prove their mettle -- that they deserve to be on a big screen, in a traditional Hindi musical, backed by one of the premiere banners in India, Yash Raj Films."
Ahead of Saiyaara's release, director Mohit Suri revealed that he nearly passed on casting Ahaan Panday in the film.
In an interview with NDTV, Mohit Suri had said, "My wife Udita (Goswami) had seen his videos him dancing, doing Shah Rukh Khan impressions. I hadn't. And honestly, if I had seen those earlier, I might've dismissed him. I needed someone with his own identity, his own voice not someone mimicking others."
Ahaan Panday was first suggested by producer Aditya Chopra, but the initial meetings didn't go as planned. "Sir just told me to take him out for dinner and break the news to him gently," Mohit added.
However, that dinner changed everything.
"As soon as he sensed he wasn't getting the part, Ahaan dropped the act. He stopped trying to impress me and just started being himself. We hung out till 3 in the morning, and somewhere in that real, unfiltered space I found my character. That's when he shifted from calling me 'Sir' to 'Bro'. And when I became 'Bro', he let his guard down. That's when I knew he was the one," said the filmmaker.
Billed as an intense love story, Saiyaara is presented by Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films and produced by Akshaye Widhani.
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