Mohit Suri On His Bond With Ahaan Panday: ‘I Met His Dad When He Was Not Even Born’ (EXCLUSIVE)

“Saiyaara” not only gave filmmaker Mohit Suri his biggest hit but also turned newcomer Ahaan Panday into an overnight sensation across the country. While the filmmaker has been speaking about bringing out the intensity from his lead star in the musical romantic drama, while talking to Variety India, Suri shares an interesting anecdote about his connection with Ahaan and his first meeting with him.

“You know what’s really weird? My father and his father were surprisingly friends when my father was probably my age, and his dad was probably his age. And that’s weird, because I remember meeting his dad. He was probably not born even at that time,” reveals the director.

Recalling his first impression of Ahaan, Mohit shares that he rejected the actor as he found him to be too soft and sweet for the character of Krish. “So, I met this boy and Adi (Aditya Chopra) sir told me, ‘He is your character. He is Krish Kapoor.’ And they never let me meet him in the YRF office. He was told, ‘Go meet him in your office.’ And my office is not like a corporate office. It’s like a pad. It’s like a den where I sit, and I write. It’s a simple two-bedroom apartment with a garden outside, where I can do my writing and my music and stuff like that. And he comes there, and I didn’t find him like Krish Kapoor at all. I found him to be a sweet, really soft boy. So I told Adi sir, ‘He is not the kind of guy.’ And we did spend two or three meetings where I actually completely rejected him,” says Suri.

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The filmmaker adds that it was Aditya Chopra’s surprise twist that brought out the character of Krish from Ahaan. “But then Adi sir said, ‘Okay, you know what? Just go take him out for dinner and tell him you are not doing the film.’ So, I met him for dinner to tell him you are not doing the film. I think that’s when he stopped pretending to impress me, and we just went out like normal people. And suddenly that night, I saw him come alive. Because by the end of the night, I can’t talk about the details, but he was standing at the bar. And he was pretty much like Krish Kapoor.”

The filmmaker recalls Ahaan’s long struggle and his first film, which was supposed to be a big-ticket spectacle with Ajay Devgn, couldn’t materialise because of post-COVID budget constraints.

“I needed a certain amount of rejection faced, a certain amount of… I am not saying angst, I would say the humility of life where you failed, and you want to become something. Now, everyone thinks he is related to Ananya. And the thing is, he was actually struggling before she came into it. He didn’t get his break. It’s amazing. And now they are accusing him of the same. It’s really sad. And we were laughing about that. But the funny part is that I lucked out. I think there was a big film that he was supposedly doing before this, and which did not happen because post-COVID things changed, which was a really big fantasy film. I think Ajay sir was supposed to do it, but YRF dropped making it,” shares the filmmaker. 

Mohit chanelized Ahaan’s phase into the character of Krish, as he adds, “I think at that age, with the kind of friends you have, to go back in that crowd and have everyone tell you, ‘Oh, you said you were going to become a hero, right? You said you were really good.’ I used all that energy for Krish Kapoor. Because Krish Kapoor thinks he’s really great. And his friends are fighting with him. And he had the humility to say, ‘I’m going to be really good. Fighting with the whole world, thinking I’m very great. Am I that good?’ So there’s a scene in the film that’s like that. So, I think that’s what you need to do with new people. I think you catch all their strengths, even if they are heartbreaks, and you use them in your film. And that’s how magic happens.”

Mohit Suri’s “Saiyaara,” which also featured Aneet Padda, Alam Khan, Rajesh Sharma and Shaad Randhawa, among others, collected over ₹325 crore during its theatrical run.