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Ahaan Panday-Aneet Padda’s Saiyaara copied Son Ye Jin-Jung Woo Sung’s A Moment to Remember? Exploring storylines
Rumors of plagiarism have stemmed between YRF’s latest romance release and the 2004 CJ Entertainment movie. We break down the truth for you.
Setting up the game for one of the biggest openings for a Hindi film in 2025, Saiyaara is eyeing unprecedented box office success. A Mohit Suri directorial, it marks Ahaan Panday’s Bollywood debut and the big break that Aneet Padda was looking for after her work in Big Girls Don’t Cry and Salaam Venky. With praise comes criticism, and the same has been true for the Bollywood film, which has welcomed the odd few bad remarks. But the biggest controversy has been its comparisons with the 2004 Korean release, A Moment to Remember.
A Moment to Remember, starring Son Ye Jin and Jung Woo Sung in the lead roles, became the actress’s commercial breakout. It followed the lives of Kim Su Jin and Choi Chul Soo, who end up falling in love after a long courting period. She, a fashion designer and he, an architect, build a beautiful married life. Eventually, her Alzheimer's disease wades a difference in their marriage, but they decide to stay together.
Saiyaara, led by Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, follows the lives of Krish Kapoor and Vaani Batra, a struggling musician and a journalist-cum-poet who meet amid a troubled time in her life. They fall in love and carve a successful path for him to walk on as a singer. With a superhit track on his hands, he learns of her Alzheimer's disease after encountering some troublesome moments involving her ex-boyfriend. After a long-winded road to each other, the two get married in an emotional and romantic culmination of their love story.
Similarities in A Moment to Remember and Saiyaara
Netizens have shared a barrage of moments that can draw comparisons between the two projects, but the central plot being about the onset of early Alzheimer's disease in both the female leads has become the point of debate for many. Their problematic pasts with ex-lovers in the film have also been disputed, as well as their relationship with their own families. A recreation of one of their most romantic moments from their dating era has been added to the bunch time and again. That is where the line has to be drawn, however, both films take on different paths and messages towards the end.
Differences in A Moment to Remember and Saiyaara
Spread over three ‘acts’, Son Ye Jin and Jung Woo Sung get married towards the start of the film. With no courting on the girl’s end, Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda’s movie benefits him more than her, with the use of her writing for his fame as a musician. They get married at the end, finally earning a sigh of relief from the viewers. The confusion has stayed constant in both depictions, but that seems to be an obvious effect of the concerned illness.
Moreover, Son Ye Jin runs off to a care facility while Aneet Padda lives her life in Himachal Pradesh, not wanting to be discovered. Mohit Suri does a larger-than-life portrayal of their love story, unlike the homely touch of A Moment to Remember. Overall, despite many similarities with its Korean counterpart, there does not seem to be plagiarism involved in the newer Hindi film.
