Just when it seemed that the era of the stars is over, a star is born. In the world of star kids, Ahaan Panday is the new star in the block. The debutant actor strummed his way into the hearts of the audience with his turn as the brooding rockstar in the making, Krish Kapoor, in Mohit Suri’s all-consuming intense love story Saiyaara—which itself means ‘a star’. 

As Krish Kapoor, Ahaan not only hit the delicate sweet spot between the volatile and the vulnerable establishing himself as a formidable actor in his very first outing, but his flamboyant screen presence that beautifully blends the rugged rebellion of the Angry Young Man of the ’70s with the quiet charm of the Gen Z Soft Boy put him on the path of becoming a bonafide star—the first one in his generation. Adding to this, the mystery around his personal life imbued him with an enigma that was once enjoyed by the stars—he is not the guy you see going in and coming out of airports or pubs or pickle ball sessions, he is not making news with his girlfriend, he is not playing ‘relatable’ and ‘down-to-earth’ with the paps—and rare phenomenon in the age of social media.  

But if you think this ‘mysterious’ 27-year-old has burst into the scene from nowhere, you must be living under the rock. He had tasted stardom way before he even signed his first movie. In the mid-2010s this cutie was that filmy ‘boy-next-door’ winning hearts lip-syncing to Bollywood songs and recreating scenes from Ranbir Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan movies on Dubsmash. He was among the most popular names on social media back than and enjoyed a substantial following. But then one day, he disappeared. And eventually did most of the content he had posted online.  

This was however a well-calculated movie; Ahaan wanted to start his Bollywood journey with a clean slate. In fact, even his Dubsmash stint was not just about a kid having some fun—Ahaan wanted the film fraternity to notice him; he was creating job opportunities and those Dubsmash videos were in fact his audition tapes, something he admitted in a recent interview. His is probably the perfect case of talent meeting the right gameplan.  

And just like that, the GenZ era might have finally arrived in Bollywood.