From F1 The Movie and Superman to How To Train Your Dragon and Jurassic World: Rebirth, Hollywood’s summer blockbusters have been pulling in crowds with their big-budget action and familiar franchises. But amidst all the noise, Mohit Suri’s melancholic monsoon love story, Saiyaara quietly broke through Bollywood’s dry spell of re-releases, becoming the highest-earning romantic Hindi film of the year, and the second highest-grossing Indian film at the box office, year to date.
With no big names, minimal marketing, and two fresh faces, Saiyaara wasn’t exactly the film anyone was betting on, but at its core, it’s Bollywood at its best. Set against the backdrop of a rain-soaked Mumbai, the movie follows the turbulent and emotionally-charged relationship between Krish, an emotionally unstable musician, and Vaani, an aspiring writer and poet who’s battling demons of her own . With fresh faces Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda in the lead, the movie is a classic Mohit Suri heartbreak watch, wrapped in grief, longing, and music that speaks louder than words. If you walked out of the theatre feeling just a little wrecked, here are 7 more heartbreak-heavy Bollywood movies like Saiyaara you might consider adding to your watchlist.
7. Dhadak (2018)
An official Hindi remake of the Marathi film Sairat, Dhadak is a tragic love story between two young lovers from vastly different social backgrounds, caught in a world that refuses to let them be together. A very modern day Shakespearean tragedy, the film stars Janhvi Kapoor in her debut role, opposite Ishaan Khatter in the performance that launched him into mainstream Bollywood.
Backed by an emotionally charged soundtrack and anchored in an all-consuming love story carried by two relatively new actors, Dhadak is the glossier cousin of Saiyaara, focusing more on love versus society as opposed to Saiyaara’s love versus self.
6. October (2018)
Varun Dhawan delivers a career-defining performance in this quiet, restrained, and tender love story navigating grief, healing, and silent devotion. October is not your typical Bollywood tragic romance. There’s no grand-sweeping declarations of love or dramatic twists. Without giving away any spoilers, it’s a deeply introspective story about how a single event can ripple through someone’s life, leaving them with a new sense of purpose, responsibility, and love filled with longing.
October has very little dialogue, the film intentionally uses silence, and discomfort to build a sense of longing. It’s more about how love makes you feel when things go wrong and less about the love story itself. If you’re in the mood for a quiet, slow-paced, introspective Bollywood film that swaps drama for depth, October is one to watch.
5. Guzaarish (2010)
While we’re on the subject of unconventional Bollywood films that should come with a side of free tissues, Guzaarish is one that should make every tortured movie lover’s list. Helmed by Bollywood’s more mainstream king of tragic love stories, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Guzaarish tells the story of Ethan, a former magician who stuns everyone by filing a legal plea to end his life. It isn’t your conventional love story. In fact, love isn’t even the main focus. At its heart, the film is about dying with dignity. There is, of course, a shared, silent tenderness between Ethan and his caregiver Sofia D’Souza, who’s been by his side for over a decade.
With a haunting score composed by Bhansali himself and visuals that unfold like brushstrokes on canvas, Guzaarish stands as one of the most pained, thought-provoking, and emotionally grounded films to ever come out of mainstream Bollywood.
4. Awarapan (2007)
It isn’t a Mohit Suri film if it doesn’t have tragedy written all over it. Starring his real-life brother and frequent collaborator Emraan Hashmi in the lead, Awarapan is about a gangster who betrays his boss’s direct orders to save a helpless woman from suffering the same tragic fate as him and help her live out her dreams, at a huge personal cost.
It’s gritty, heartfelt, and surprisingly spiritual. If you’re looking for an early 2000s throwback with a deeply emotional redemption arc and a soundtrack that still lives rent-free in every broken hearted playlist till date, Awarapan is worth watching.
3. Tamasha (2015)
Messy, raw, and for most viewers, painfully relatable, Tamasha is less of a love story and more of a quiet reminder of the cost of forgetting who you really are to become who you’re told to be. On the surface, the movie follows Ved and Tara, two strangers who meet and fall in love in Corsica after starting a holiday rendezvous that was never meant to be anything more. However, things change when their paths cross once again back home.
The two enter into a relationship, only for Tara to realise that the man she’s dating is painfully different from the carefree version she fell in love with on vacation. But in truth, the movie isn’t so much about Ved and Tara as it is about Ved’s fractured relationship with himself.
2. Rockstar (2011)
You can’t talk about tragic Bollywood love stories with a killer soundtrack without mentioning Rockstar. Much like Saiyaara, Rockstar follows the journey of a musician longing for love. But unlike Saiyaara, this story begins with a musician who struggles to create meaningful music because his life is too easy, too uncomplicated. In a misguided attempt to unlock his inner artist, Jordan decides that heartbreak might be the key. So he sets his sights on Heer, a beautiful college girl from a conservative family.
What starts as a mischievous plan quickly spirals into something far more complicated and consuming, marked by inner chaos, obsessive love, and deep emotional pain. If you’re in the mood for a doomed love story with a soundtrack that’ll absolutely wreck you (and save you), Rockstar is the one.
1. Aashiqui 2 (2013)
Aashiqui 2 is peak sad Bollywood. With iconic songs like ‘Tum Hi Ho’ and ‘Sunn Raha Hai,’ it gave Bollywood one of its most memorable heartbreak soundtracks in recent memory. The movie follows two musicians: one, a fading alcoholic star; the other, an innocent aspiring vocalist, as they enter into a mentoring relationship that quickly blossoms into a painful, all-consuming love story.
Starring Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur, Aashiqui 2, much like Saiyaara, became a sleeper hit. With minimal promotions or mainstream push, the film reached blockbuster success almost entirely through word of mouth. In fact, both films draw several parallels, making it no surprise that many are dubbing Saiyaara the new generation’s Aashiqui 2.
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