How did Saiyaara start off so well?What do you think?

A film with 2 newcomers, a nepotism and an outsider and a nepotism director has done well.

What are your reasons?

Catering to college/school audience

Most of the bollywood with their 40-60 years old heroes is centred around boomers/millennials, who probably don't want to spend on money or don't go out as much

FEEL !!!

thats it the movie has a feel and a soul which most if the movies lack today

The movie clicked with younger audiences...I know my younger cousins bunked college to watch it....the word of mouth surrounding the movie was very good....

The industry will be getting the notebooks out discussing the learnings from this film and will come out with hundreds of reasons but in reality there are no explanations when this happens to a film. Even the director or producers will not have a clue what has happened. It is the same before Saiyaara and the same after Saiyaara.

The above excerpt is from a Box office India article. The only explaination is that there is no explaination.

I can give you my reason why I am rooting for it. After a long time a lead pair had brought a smile on my face with their raw, innocent, sincere and genuine performances. I was won over in the first few minutes itself, the rest was just detail. The movie is not without its flaws but still the lead pair with the help of soul stirring music just keeps you glued to your chair wanting for more.

It’s a fair question—and a fascinating case study in how audiences are evolving.

Yes, Saiyaara featured both a star kid and an outsider, and yes, it was helmed by a director with legacy roots. But that’s only the surface. What really worked here was that the film didn’t try to mask its intentions behind formula. It was honest, emotionally resonant, and—dare I say—refreshingly uncalculated.

Sometimes, talent finds its way past lineage. Both leads delivered performances that felt lived-in rather than rehearsed, and that emotional sincerity reached across the screen. As for the director, nepotism or not, he finally stepped out of the shadow of his surname and crafted something that felt personal rather than inherited.

Also, the audience today is sharper than ever. We don’t mind a star kid if they earn their place. We don’t mind an outsider if they rise without posturing. What we do mind is being manipulated with algorithm-driven, soulless cinema. Saiyaara, for all its pedigree, didn’t fall into that trap. It dared to feel—and that, perhaps, is the boldest move a film can make in this era.