In a surprising revelation, filmmaker Mohit Suri has candidly spoken about Saiyaara star Ahaan Panday’s early days on social media, calling him a “cringe TikToker” before his transition to Bollywood. Suri, who mentored Ahaan during the production of Saiyaara, said in a recent interview that the young actor had to undergo a major image revamp before making his silver screen debut.
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“Ahaan came to us with talent, no doubt,” said Suri. “But I’ll be honest — his early TikTok content was borderline cringey. He had the looks, the energy, but his online presence wasn’t aligned with what we needed for Saiyaara. We actually asked him to take those videos down.”
According to sources close to the production, Ahaan’s earlier videos were filled with lip-syncs, dance trends, and dramatic monologues — the kind that appeal to Gen-Z but don’t quite scream “Bollywood hero material.” The marketing team and stylists working with Ahaan reportedly advised him to archive his entire TikTok feed prior to the promotional rollout of Saiyaara, now a ₹300-crore hit.
Suri added, “He worked hard to shift that perception. The guy trained for months, worked on his acting, his screen presence — he wanted to be taken seriously.”
Interestingly, Ahaan himself has embraced the criticism with humour. In a recent fan Q&A, he joked, “We all start somewhere… mine just happened to be under a TikTok filter!”
The comment from Suri has sparked debate online, with fans defending Ahaan’s social media journey as part of his growth. Some even dug up archived clips of the now-deleted videos, praising his glow-up from “social media heartthrob” to “bankable Bollywood star.”
With Saiyaara establishing Ahaan as a rising star, it seems the cringe phase is officially in the past — but it also played a key role in shaping the actor he is today.
