“How did you know that?” Saiyaara director Mohit Suri is surprised, also a bit embarrassed when we ask how come he is an Emiway Bantai fan. Rap music doesn’t really fit with Mohit’s filmography, adorned with soulful or angsty romantic numbers like ‘Aadat’, ‘Woh Lamhe’ and ‘Toh Phir Aao’. “I actually really want to work with Divine and Hanumankind,” he says with a laugh.
Saiyaara is making waves at the box office and it seems like the perfect gift for Mohit who is completing two decades in the Hindi film industry. In this conversation, we talk to the director about why he feels he doesn’t have a distinct filmmaking style, the origins of Saiyaara, casting new faces Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda and if the film was actually supposed to be Aashiqui 3.
It is your 20th year in the film industry. Do you ever reflect on your journey?
Actually, I don’t see my previous films at all. There is no legacy I want to create. I was recently talking to Anurag Basu and he was referring to “my kind of storytelling” and I really don’t know what he was talking about. I actually just do what I feel like doing. I don’t look at myself as somebody more superior than the audience. I am just a guy who wants to go to the theatre and watch a particular kind of film and at this point I felt I wanted to watch a love story, so I made one.
That’s interesting, because just last week I spoke to Anurag Basu and he said a similar thing that he also doesn’t see a certain trademark style in his filmmaking…
Yeah. I would probably think about my style and the things I have achieved when I will hang up by boots. For now, I am just running and not looking back. I feel the more we look at past glories, we won’t create the future. If I kept on working with Emraan (Hashmi), I would never have discovered Aditya (Roy Kapur) and Shraddha (Kapoor) and if I didn’t leave them, Ahaan (Panday) and Aneet (Padda) would not have come into the picture. And it’s not about forgetting them, I have not forgotten the past, but you don’t live only in that.
Let’s talk about Saiyaara, when did you get the idea for the film?
I remember, post-Covid, everybody was confused as to what to make. I had made Ek Villain Returns (2022) and I wasn’t too happy with it. Most people were getting into making large-scale actioners with multiple stars and I didn’t know where I stood in all of this. When everybody was blasting off more buildings and helicopters, I saw the documentary The Romantics (2023) and was inspired to make a love story. The idea began from this thought that sometimes a melody can take you back to a moment in life and how memory, music and moments connect. Everyone told me no one will make this film because it wasn’t larger-than-life, didn’t have any big stars and required newcomers.
How did Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda get on-board?
Ahaan was in the YRF system. He was supposed to do a film with them in the past which didn't happen. Although his auditions were not giving it, Adi sir (Aditya Chopra) said don't push it, just go out with him one day. I had met Ahaan a couple of times but something was not clicking. Till I went out with him one night. We went out for dinner and it was still okay but by the end of the night, I told him to stop calling me sir and start calling me Mohit. When he stopped trying to work and was just letting his energy flow, I found my Krish (Ahaan’s character in the film). The credit of finding Aneet, I must give to Shanu Sharma, who heads casting at YRF. We were looking at auditions for four months before we found her.
Throughout your career, you have worked with newcomers, be it actors or musicians. I think they might have learnt a lot from you but what is something you have learnt from them over the years?
I don't think they learn anything from me (laughs). I only learn from them. Working with newcomers keeps me connected to the youth. The tendency with success is that you have bigger cars and better houses, you get yes-men around you and you lose touch with your audience. Young people tell you what works, what they are liking, what kind of music they are listening to, what matters to them and what feelings they have. It just keeps me updated.
Do you keep yourself updated with the happenings of modern love too? Love has changed quite a bit, there is more access due to dating apps, also there is a term for every complicated aspect of a relationship…
I think no matter how much left or right you swipe, the heart still hurts in the same place, in the centre of your chest, a little towards the left. There are new terms like situationship and stuff but I feel this is just modern lingo to explain complex relationships which have always been there and relationships always come with their share of problems. My grandparents ran away and got married. My grandfather later suffered from a mental ailment but my grandmother stuck by him all her life. That was a great love story. My father used to live in Delhi, fell in love with my mother and left Delhi at random to come to Mumbai. I met Udita (Goswami) 21 years back. I was this boy standing under this big hoarding bearing her face, telling myself that one day I will marry her and today we have two children. Everyone has a story. The clothes, the costume, the technology changes but the feelings don't change. I think if two people break up over a letter, a text or on social media, it all hurts the same way.
I have to ask you this Mohit, was Saiyaara initially supposed to be Aashiqui 3?
Yes, I was asked to do Aashiqui but it was too nascent a conversation and also, they were in an urgency to start it, which I don't usually do because I like to make my music first and then decide to film. So, I opted out of the position and Anurag (Basu) did call me and told me that he is doing it. I am actually glad I didn’t have the pressure of the Aashiqui brand. I mean, who can compete with Arijit Singh’s ‘Tum Hi Ho’?
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