India, Nov. 4 -- The eulogies for romances in Bollywood had been written extensively after the pandemic. All of a sudden, mass seemed to be the way to go for every actor and producer, with action films looking like the only certain way of drawing audiences. When even actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Manoj Bajpayee turned to mass action, it rang alarm bells in the industry for the lovers of good ol' romance. Sure, films like Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani kept the genre afloat, but it was 2025 that truly revived it in Hindi cinema.

Saiyaara came like a breath of fresh air - a romantic drama with young actors that broke decades-old box office records without anybody expecting it to. A couple of other romantic dramas did fairly well without ...