1 year of Saiyaara EXCLUSIVE: “That Friday changed everything for me, I took 2-3 months to digest the success,” says Shaan R Grover; also reveals how Ahaan Panday calmed his nerves before shoot: “He advised me to forget it’s a YRF film”

Yash Raj Films and Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, which released a year ago, earned critical and commercial success. In fact, the film went onto earn a mammoth Rs. 337 crores, which stunned the industry. The movie made Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda overnight sensations. But it also worked wonders for Shaan R Grover, who played the antagonist Mahesh Iyer.

Recalling the effect of Saiyaara, Shaan told Bollywood Hungama exclusively, “That Friday completely changed everything for me. I instantly got hate/ love (laughs). All this was very new for me. Compared to all the work I had done in previous 5-6 years, this was more significant character-wise and in terms of the script.”

In fact, the young actor said that the appreciation took time for him to sink in. “I took 2-3 months to just digest it,” he said. “I took time to come out of that Saiyaara phase. When I digested it and realized that the whole industry has seen the film, how big it is and now everybody knows my name at least, I started meeting people and grabbing some opportunities that I got. So, that took another 2-3 months, which was by the end of last year. And this year, I have started on my next work. I have to do something of that level. If not that level, at least similar to that. I am very happy to have been working continuously.”

Saiyaara went onto earn huge at the box office despite it not featuring any superstar. “We hadn’t expected this much success,” Shaan said candidly. “When we were having our chat about the film, we knew we had cooked something very nice and it is going to do really well. I had the gut feeling. I knew when YRF, Mohit sir and Ahaan are coming together, it was going to be something big. But I didn’t have any idea that the film would become so big.”

Shaan was reminded of the success of Saiyaara later in the year when Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar released. “Who had thought about Dhurandhar?” asked the actor. “I am such a big fan of Dhurandhar. I saw the first film on the first day first show on December 5. I went again three days later. But I hadn’t expected that it would earn Rs. 1000 crores and that it would change the landscape of Indian cinema. We don’t think about all this while making a film. We try to make a good film and expect the people to like it. That has always been the norm to make something good and our milestone will get created. I don’t think you can predict anything.”

Shaan had all his scenes with Aneet Padda but he didn’t know her before the shoot. “I met her on the shoot,” he said. “And while shooting, we became such close friends. We did things like randomly singing songs and doing masti. We had a fun banter. Ahaan, on the other hand, has been my friend since 2016. We have known each other, we have chilled together and we have motivated each other time and again. With him, I had a different camaraderie.”

Shaan went onto say that it was the biggest blessing for him to have Ahaan in the film because of the camaraderie and comfort they shared, which helped him calm his nerves. “If there was no such comfort, I wouldn’t have opened up this way because I was nervous. I can never deny that, no matter how much work I had done. I also shared it with Ahaan a couple of days before my first day of shoot. I said, ‘I am very nervous. Parso shoot hai’. He asked me not to worry and said that he has been shooting regularly with Mohit Suri sir for 15-20 days. He said he is super chilled and advised me not to worry and forget that this is a YRF film. He said, ‘Tu bas apna kaam kar, tu badhiya actor hai’. Sometimes, these things really help.”

When Shaan eventually started shooting with Suri, he found the director similar to former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “As a person, he is too good. I always say that he is captain cool. I always compare him with MS Dhoni. No matter what happens on the set, he is pretty cool, chilled out and calm. I have seen so many directors in my life who are very different. I think directors should be like him. They should not panic and not be chaotic in their own heads and also on the sets.”

Shaan believes that his character wouldn’t have come out so well without Suri’s support. “Ninety percent of Mahesh is given by him. On the first day itself, I could have taken it somewhere else. Maybe I would have overacted. But he was the one who kept me grounded and said that I should play him as romantically and charmingly as possible and he will handle the negative part. This worked in my favour. People have told me that I wasn’t so negative; it was the character which was negative. So, all this has been possible due to Mohit Suri sir. All thanks to him,” he said.

Shaan recently completed shooting a period film based in the 1850s called Flower Waali, which is directed by Kamal Chandra. He will also start shooting a web series soon. When asked whether he has any goals as an actor, he simply stated, “No planning works. Maybe when you start defining goals, that’s when God challenges you (laughs). I think it’s best that you make no goals and plans; let God define your path and carve it for you. As soon as I learnt this in this year, things have been nice. I am really enjoying the process right now.”

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Saiyaara actor Shaan R Grover’s next is a period drama titled Flower Waali

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