Saiyaara director Mohit Suri reveals he wasn’t fully convinced by Ahaan Panday’s audition and was initially unsure about casting him. Here’s what happened next!
Ananya Panday’s cousin Ahaan Panday is all set to make his Bollywood debut with Mohit Suri’s upcoming film ‘Saiyaara’ alongside Aneet Padda. In a recent interview, director Mohit Suri revealed that both Ahaan and Aneet auditioned for their respective roles. However, he wasn’t fully sure about casting Ahaan after seeing his audition, and chose to assess him in an informal setting instead. He eventually realized that Ahaan’s off-camera behaviour closely matched the character he was casting, after which he was convinced that the actor fit the role perfectly.
In a conversation with Filmfare, Mohit Suri was asked about Saiyaara actors Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda’s casting process. He replied, “Shanoo Sharma, who heads the YRF casting, showed me auditions. It’s as simple as that. It was just a normal, organic process that you show auditions and you meet. Ahaan, on the other hand — when I saw his audition, I was still not sure. So I actually pretended like I liked him. But…(laughs).”
Mohit Suri On What Convinced Him Ahaan Panday Is Fit For The Role In Saiyaara
He further added, “I didn’t tell him he is in the film, but I told him, ‘Let’s go out for dinner.’ We were supposed to go out for dinner for one hour, but we stayed out all night. I think when the camera goes off, and when you see someone’s not on job, that is when the test actually happens. So I cheated — I tested him when the camera was not running, and I actually kind of figured out how he is. I realized that if he is even 50% of this, he is the character of my film. What he was behaving outside the studio, was very much what the film required. So that was the process.”
The makers of Saiyaara have been keeping fans hooked with the songs from the film. After the gripping teaser, the makers released Saiyaara title song. A week after that, they unveiled the music video of ‘Barbaad’, the second song from the film.
The film introduces Ahaan Panday as a hero to the Hindi film industry and also stars Aneet Padda (who stole hearts with her performance in the series Big Girls Don’t Cry) as the female lead. Saiyaara is produced by the company’s CEO Akshaye Widhani and it is set to release on July 18, 2025 in theatres worldwide.
