Saiyyara Success: Has Ahaan Pandey Stolen Kartik Aryan’s Thunder...And His Sleep?

It’s not every day that a love story sparks so much hate. But hey, welcome to Bollywood — where one man’s debut is another’s midlife crisis. 

The overnight, explosive success of Saiyyara, YRF’s big, glossy musical romance starring two absolute newbies, has reportedly thrown a bunch of middle-aged “young” stars into panic mode. And leading the pack of insecure boys allegedly crying into their protein shakes? 

None other than Bollywood’s self-proclaimed PR king and serial romantic hero wannabe— Kartik Aryan.

Sources say poor Kartik hasn’t been himself since Saiyyara, headlined by fresh-faced Ahaan Pandey and Aneet Padda under Mohit Suri’s direction, clocked an earth-shattering ₹21 crore on day one, ₹24 crore on day two, and upwards ₹30 crore on the 3rd day, officially reviving Bollywood’s love affair with love stories.

The murmurs in the industry are getting louder: that Saiyyara marks a generational shift, with Ahaan Pandey’s Hrithik-esque debut 25 years after Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, potentially signalling curtains for Kartik’s ambition in romantic hero territory, a crown he’s worn despite a string of underwhelming flops since Love Aaj Kal (2020), followed by the debacle of Shehzada in 2023. His misfires at other non-franchise genres such as sports drama Chandu Champion haven’t helped either. 

Insiders say that he was frantically leaning on his upcoming Anurag Basu-directed musical comeback to claw back relevance, and Ahaan Pandey seems to have hi-jacked that dream right from under his nose.

But here’s where it gets juicy. Apparently, Kartik is twisting producer Bhushan Kumar’s arm to somehow buy the title rights to Aashiqui 3, in a bid to cash in on the iconic franchise.

Too bad the Delhi High Court ruled just last year that the rights stay with Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films, and Bhushan Kumar’s T-series doesn’t even get to use the word “Aashiqui” anywhere in the title. 

Even if Bhushan shells out big bucks to negotiate, trade experts wonder if anyone’s going to care — given that Kartik’s look and role of a long-haired musician in the untitled romantic film co-starring Sree Leela reportedly bears uncanny similarities to Ahaan Pandey’s already-beloved loverboy musician in Saiyyara.

Meanwhile, trade analyst Komal Nahta stirred the pot even more on Saturday by suggesting that Saiyyara’s shocking success has left at least four “young heroes” rattled, with netizens gleefully guessing names: Kartik Aryan, Varun Dhawan, Ibrahim Ali Khan, and even Shahid Kapoor. 

Nahta even cryptically hinted that one actor with nearly 20 films to his name has been quietly enquiring whether the box-office numbers of Saiyyara are real or PR spin.

Guess who fits that description with 16 releases and a couple of under production flicks? Well, Kartik Aryan, who else.

As for Ahaan Pandey? The young star who kept away from media and who many know only as Chunky Pandey’s nephew, seems blissfully unbothered, soaking in the attention, possibly oblivious to how many egos his blockbuster debut just bruised. 

After all, Bollywood usually has room for one young prince charming at a time, and Kartik Aryan may just have lost the chance to grab that spot.