Jul 27, 2026 7:00pm IST
Anees Bazmee on Why Rom-Coms Like ‘Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha’ Aren’t Made Now: ‘We’ve Become Very Intellectual’ (EXCLUSIVE)
It’s not that the Indian film industry isn’t making romance films or rom-coms that audiences could enjoy with the whole family. They do arrive, few and far between, but there seems to be something missing; they aren’t hitting the mark the way they used to. With Ajay Devgn and Kajol’s 1998 film, "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha," completing 28 years, the film’s director, Anees Bazmee, offered insight on why such films aren’t being made anymore.
In an exclusive chat with Variety India, Bazmee gets nostalgic about the 90s era when love stories were the genre du jour. “Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha” was inspired by the 1995 Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline romance, “French Kiss,” and Bazmee was able to convince a true-blue action star like Ajay Devgn to act in a romantic film with barely any fight scenes. However, the screenwriter and filmmaker feels there’s one specific reason why making such films has gotten harder.
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“We became very intellectual and intelligent people. Love is not the work of intelligent people. It's the work of the heart. So you have to make a film from the heart without listening to the mind or logic, because there is no logic in love. We don't know why love happens the way it does. Everyone has the same two eyes, lips and ears, but you fall for who you fall for; there’s no logic to it. Love is about innocence, too, like the things a boy or girl would do at sixteen are not something you’d do when mature. Films today are made to look very intelligent and logical.”
The "Welcome" and "Thank You" filmmaker’s insights about romance are bang on, and he recalls the time when the late Yash Chopra urged him to make more romances. Bazmee speaks about how, when "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha" released, several filmmakers who were his friends and well-wishers from his screenwriter days came to watch the film. But it is the compliment from Yash Chopra that he cherishes the most.
“After 'Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha', Yash Chopra said to me, ‘I want to give you a suggestion. You understand love. You know love. And you have made such a good romantic film, that too with Ajay Devgn. So my suggestion is, always make love stories. You will be fantastic’.”
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Interestingly, Anees Bazmee has been quite the genre chameleon, following up ‘Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha’ with the psychological thriller “Deewangee” (also starring Devgn), and then pivoting majorly to comedy capers. But if he were to make a rom-com now, who amongst the younger generation of actors would he consider casting?
Bazmee says, “In ‘Saiyaara’, I liked both the kids (Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda). They did a very good job. And I feel that if you have written a good film, then 50% of the work is done. If you can make the actor understand that, then they will do it. They will have to work a little less and tap into their emotions more instead of using their mind. As a director, I think your job is to be able to get that across to the actors, in which case they can all be cast in your film. All the new kids today are very hardworking.”
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