Even if you were living under a rock, you couldn’t have missed the hype around Saiyaara this year—the Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda starrer had men and women bawling, screaming, and fainting in theatres like lovesick puppies.
The film featuring the two debutantes was a Mohit Suri classic—a musical romance about Krish Kapoor, a young musician navigating ambition, love, and a life-altering medical diagnosis, and Vaani (Padda)—but its emotional high notes travelled fast.
To those watching from the outside, the success felt instant: suddenly, everyone was going to the theatre to be part of a pop culture moment. Inside the Panday household, life simply changed its tempo overnight. “Within a week of its release, he was being mobbed everywhere,” recalls his mother and wellness influencer Deanne Panday of the early days of success. “There was paparazzi outside our house every day. We live a very normal life—my husband [businessman Chikki Panday] doesn’t even go to events. Suddenly, everyone was watching us.”
Deanne’s days begin early, either on a yoga mat or at Bandra’s Otter’s Club, where she works out. Growing up in Mumbai, she was raised alongside five siblings by working-class parents. Her father worked in advertising, her mother was a secretary, and discipline came less from rules and more from rhythm. In fact, fame wasn’t a factor even after she married into the Panday family.
Most days, Deanne works from the second floor of her home—a four-storey bungalow tucked away in Union Park, designed like a sanctuary with a front courtyard, skylights, abundant greenery, and a spa-like calm. But things haven’t been the same.
These days, she’s noticed fans and photographers appearing at their gate, teenagers hanging around by the road, and a lot of fan mail arriving at their doorstep. “His oldest fan is in his eighties and his youngest fan is two and a half—her parents sent us a video of her dancing to Saiyaara in Abu Dhabi,” says the proud mama, who has been privy to all the fan mail at home: drawings, long letters, and even a guitar that a fan insisted on sending. “Every letter is emotional,” Deanne says. “Ahaan calls them [fans] his army. Some letters tell him how he’s changed their lives. Many are sweet and innocent—young girls writing about wanting to marry him or be his girlfriend. I find it very endearing,” she shares. “When I see women swoon over him, I get emotional. And I feel proud,” she says. “It’s a very sweet feeling—your son being loved so much.”
Pre-Saiyara, bills, notices, and the stray party invite was all they received in mail. Now, they get thousands of missives a month. And every mail comes with the same opening salvo—they are his number one fan. Some have brought rude shocks too. Just a few months ago, she recalls receiving a letter written in blood: “We wrote back asking them not to do such things,” she says firmly. “It’s harmful. That’s not what he would ever want for them.”
But when Deanne talks about Ahaan sitting and reading everything, she paints a picture of the wildly successful Gen Z debutant sifting through a very large trunk of fan mail that sits proudly in his room. “He doesn’t take any of this lightly. He wants to save it all—he’s planning to shoot something special with it soon to show his gratitude to his fans.”
Today, Ahaan turns 28, and already the internet is waking up to tributes from his co-stars and family. “I’ve seen a stranger having a better day after talking to you. I’ve seen the security guard waiting for his daily chat with you at 2 pm sharp. I’ve seen the world stop and stare at you before it knew why,” wrote Padda in an internet-breaking birthday post today.
Besides the earworms in the classic love story, Saiyaara’s success has a lot to do with the fresh pairing of the leads. “He didn’t know Aneet from before,” recalls Deanne. “He auditioned with a few girls, but he kept insisting, ‘You have to work with this girl—she’s a brilliant actress.’” It wasn’t familiarity; it was instinct—a feel for rhythm, presence, and emotional pairing. The studio agreed, and the chemistry went on to become one of the film’s strongest anchors.
But even before he became a national crush, Deanne knew she had raised an extrovert who was social, curious, and energetic—forever dancing at parties, asking questions, inserting himself joyfully into rooms. In school, Ahaan and his sister were “naughty, but manageable naughty. Never rebellious.” The rules were: No junk food at home, plenty of fruit, meals on time, early mornings. “They were happy kids. Old-school even as a teenager, Ahaan grew up believing in romance. He went on dates, had two serious relationships, and approached love with an earnestness that feels increasingly rare.”
Temperament-wise, she sees a familiar reflection. “He’s got my positive mind and my soft heart,” says the mother, “He’s very sensitive.” The sharp business instinct, she adds, comes from his father’s side.
Ahaan’s life has notably changed ever since Saiyaara’s enviable box-office run. But living with a celebrity has altered Deanne’s daily life too. On most days, Deanne does a good job of being relatively unaffected by her son’s fame. But in July, it hit her unexpectedly. She was at the Economic Times ‘Inspiring Woman Leader Award’ to receive an award for her work in wellness. “I suddenly got mobbed... People were calling me ‘Krish Kapoor’s mummy’. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been in wellness for 30 years and never had that kind of attention. And suddenly, because of my son, I was getting all this love.”
These days, his recognition follows her offline too—at airports, even security staff identify her instantly, smiling and calling her Ahaan’s mum before she reaches the gate.
Despite the hysteria, she insists nothing at his core has altered. “He still plays guitar for my mum, whom he’s very close to. And at the end of the day, I still see in him that scrawny, energetic little boy dancing at Dharamji’s farmhouse.” If the public sees an overnight star, she sees someone shaped quietly through patience, practice, and years of unseen work. Now, as the frenzy settles into something more lived-in, she’s finally letting herself enjoy it. “He’s happy. So, I’m happy,” she says. “That’s really it.”
