Ten days ago, movie theatres witnessed a surprising turn of events. Packed (after what seems like eternity), and that too with a new release, they became the nerve centre for drooling girls and swooning boys, all stacking aura points doled out by their beloved onscreen lead, who they had just encountered while watching Saiyaara. And just like that, the internet anointed a new boyfriend: Ahaan Panday.
Yes, like infatuation, the internet works in mysterious ways. But this pop culture moment is likely to be recalled in most end-of-year lists. To be clear, Ahaan Panday, who plays a troubled rocker who falls hard for Aneet Padda’s shy poet in Saiyaara, was famous before he became famous, being the nephew of Chunky Panday and the cousin of Ananya Panday. And the Gen Z crowds who are swooning over Mohit Suri’s latest brooding romance don’t seem to care that the male lead is a Bollywood insider.
Saiyaara’s production house, Yash Raj Films, wisely withheld its untested leads from pre-release promotions. In Panday’s case, they needn’t have bothered. His camera-friendliness was already evident from his social media accounts. All Suri, the filmmaker, needed to do was point Panday’s energies in the right direction, which he did expertly.
For a generation that is laser-focused on getting what it wants, both 22-year-old Padda and 27-year-old Panday represent the logical outcome of hard work—success, popularity, and validation, that too at a young age. Another hallmark of Gen Z is said to be pragmatism. Perhaps this cohort can see beyond the hand-wringing about nepotism and recognise that a reputed surname or a ready-made network can only take you so far.
This is something Bollywood has always known: That the box office remains the ultimate arbiter of which star kid shines and which one fades out or bumbles along.
Yes, star kids persevere—and Bollywood makes sure they do, since so much has been invested in them and so much is at stake. Some refuse to take the hint but are permitted to linger around longer than they should. But there are others who manage to crack the formula and become stars, just like their parents.
Privilege, packaging, PR—all of this provides a cushioning not available to most of us. That said, none of this clicks if audiences can’t see characters on the screen with whom they can identify.
Exhibit A: Shah Rukh Khan. His accomplishments have made the path smoother for his children. But will they automatically inherit his mega-watt charisma or the love that people feel for him? Will audiences flock to cinemas to watch a movie starring his daughter Suhana or instantly consume the upcoming web series directed by his son Aryan? They might, out of curiosity, or even to hate-watch, but beyond that, the Khan scions are on their own.
An old interview of Ahaan Panday in which he apparently shrugs off his connection with Chunky Panday resurfaced after Saiyaara raced to the most watched videos on YouTube last week. It is unclear whether Panday’s alleged statement—made during an Instagram live event in 2017, when he was 19 years old—was a defensive response to the ‘nepo baby’ label or an early attempt to carve out an identity for himself.
Perhaps it’s a bit of both. Curiosity about Panday before Saiyaara’s release was in part because of the clan to which he belongs. Orbiting among famous faces, Panday is an insider who has seen Bollywood up close but has waited for his turn in the spotlight—a bit like Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor in their time. After Saiyaara’s monster run, Chunky Panday jokingly referred to his family becoming a brand name.
Pre-Saiyaara, Panday’s social media life was certainly a result of affluence. But following the film’s release, his followers also likely saw somebody who could play the camera to his advantage, strike the right pose with the correct amount of confidence, and ace the social media game—again, cherished goals in heavily image-conscious times.
Nepotism first became a catchphrase in India when Kangana Ranaut called Koffee with Karan host Karan Johar the “flagbearer of nepotism” in 2017. It was one of the few unscripted moments on a celebrity talk show packed with suspiciously smooth banter and perfectly timed comebacks. And the future Member of Parliament (whose brother, ironically, is involved with her productions) had articulated an open secret. Johar was gobsmacked, the unique selling proposition of his business model exposed, as it were. Bollywood baiters were thrilled—here was a stick with which to clobber a not-always-meritocratic and cliquish industry that often favours its own over more talented but less fortunate aspirants.
The nepotism debate is entirely valid in a feudal, casteist and economically divided society as India. In a country where there is no irony in saying that somebody was “destined to succeed” or is “a chip off the old block”, questioning silver spoons and soft landings is necessary, compulsory even.
Legacy-building is all around us—in business, politics, sports, media, medicine, even the bureaucracy. But the situation is complicated by a value system whose foundation remains the family rather than individualism.
Conversations around nepotism encourage a conscious playing down or even a rejection of inheritance. This position is untenable beyond a point, something that perhaps Gen Z—which hasn’t yet outgrown parental influence, which remains connected to previous generations, and which needs an emotional anchor—can see more clearly than the nepotism-obsessives.
It’s worth noting that Mohit Suri is himself a third-generation member of the Bhatt clan, while Saiyaara’s producer, Aditya Chopra, is carrying the mantle from his father, Yash Chopra. One of the film’s composers, Tanishk Bagchi, was born to well-known singers from Bengal. Another composer, Mithoon, is the nephew of Pyarelal Sharma, one half of the legendary music composing duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
It’s also noteworthy that some of 2025’s top-grossing films have direct or indirect generational links. Chhaava stars Vicky Kaushal, the son of action director Sham Kaushal. Aamir Khan produced and starred in Sitaare Zameen Par. Raid 2 stars second-geners Ajay Devgn and Riteish Deshmukh (the latter from a political family, but still). The cast of Housefull 5 includes Deshmukh and Abhishek Bachchan and is produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, whose banner is called Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment. In short, they are all nepo or nepo-adjacent.
For these professionals, their famous surnames represent heritage rather than an unfair advantage. They will argue that their backgrounds help them better navigate a notoriously risky and unpredictable business. Being from a film family definitely gives them more than a foot in the door—on the contrary, the gates are held wide open for them. But will they create works that impress, endure and, most importantly, make money? They might be better versed with filmmaking hacks, but there’s no guarantee.
In the case of Saiyaara, the fresh pairing, earworm songs, and Suri’s talent for packaging old-fashioned together-forever themes as a new-gen tale did the trick. Saiyaara follows from Suri’s Aashiqui 2, his version of the Hollywood classic A Star is Born. In Aashiqui 2 (2013), the hero literally erases his dysfunctional, alcoholic self so that he won’t come in the way of his beloved’s stardom.
In the dozen years since that film, there is greater sensitivity about supplying triggers for self-harm and suicidal behaviour. For Saiyaara, Suri updates his playbook to emphasise sexual compatibility, intimacy, and lifelong companionship. His characters survive their passion, even if somewhat bruised and diminished—a halfway reassuring message in an age filled with relentless bad news, instability, and bouts of hopelessness.
What Saiyaara’s young audiences likely saw and appreciated was visible effort, rather than the lazy assertion of birth right. They saw a young man who, at 27, is already a bit too told to be a debutant, immerse himself into his role.
They also saw an actor extend the promise that she has already shown in the Prime Video show Big Girls Don’t Cry. If there is any true winner of the film’s box-office triumph, it is the talented Aneet Padda. An insider and an outsider combining to mine box-office gold—that’s the kind of balance that makes sense for a generation trying to navigate an uncertain, anxiety-ridden future.
