India, Dec. 30 -- We had been hearing that same rhyme repeating since 2020. The audiences are not interested in going to the theatres anymore, they said when 83 flopped. Only mass action will work now, they argued, as KGF and RRR stacked record numbers. Romantic films are dead; they repeated every time a candyfloss romance featuring Gen Z stars (too many titles to name) tanked at the box office. Even Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani was seen as an aberration, elevated by its two leads, rather than a return of romance in theatres. It took three diverse films in 2025 to bust these narratives and announce to the world: old-school Bollywood romance is alive. And it needs neither star power nor social media virality to succeed.

When Saiyaara w...