You don't have to be from India or Southwest Asia to absolutely love-love-LOVE this movie. I want to go and see it again.And again. This one transverses cultures and speaks to the universal needs and drives in us. It is a love story, but an unusual one. There is a sweetness to it, a sort of purity amidst the passion. There are tender scenes clearly shot through with longing and desire, but it is never ever smutty. There is joy, brlievsbility, and the characters sweep the viewer along with them. And it speaks to the nobility of spirit and sacrifice that love can bring out in a person. Anyone could relate to the two main characters, and the chemistry between the two debuting actors, Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, is absolutely fabulous. The sparks fly.
Music is a very important element in this film, and not only because the story is about an ambitious young musicians and the woman who becomes his muse and lyricist. It is because the music and songs carry the emotion, make you feel what you are seeing...the music is perfectly choreographed to the acting and is a powerful conveyor of emotion here. I loved every moment, could not help breaking into enthusiastic applaus at the end of it, and am now desperately hunting for some other cinema in the Oslo area that is showing Saiyaara so that I can take along some friends who have never seen a Hindi film and probably never thought to...I want to see it again!