Sonakshi Sinha’s brother suggests Saiyaara is unoriginal after it destroys his movie at box office, says Anupam Kher’s film was removed from theatres but his wasn’t

Sonakshi Sinha's brother, Kush Sinha, spoke about the box office failure of his film Nikita Roy, and said Saiyaara's overperformance led to this. He also suggested that his film is entirely original.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | July 29, 2025 01:29 PM IST

3 min read

Sonakshi SInha's Nikita Roy opened on the same day as Saiyaara.

Three Hindi films were released in theatres on July 18 – Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, Kush Sinha’s Nikita Roy, and Anupam Kher’s Tanvi the Great. While Saiyaara emerged as a massive blockbuster, the other two films have struggled at the box office. Starring newcomers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, Saiyaara has made over Rs 250 crore at the box office, while both Nikita Roy and Tanvi the Great are hovering at around the Rs 2 crore mark. In an interview, Kush Sinha spoke about his film’s box office failure, and blamed it on the Saiyaara wave. He also claimed that Tanvi the Great was removed from theatres, but his film, Nikita Roy, wasn’t.

In an interview with Dainik Bhaskar, he was asked about Nikita Roy’s underperformance, and he said that his father, Shatrughan Sinha, told him not to lose hope. “We tried to get more screens, but sometimes, some films are swept along by a wave. At the same time, whichever theatre chains we’ve spoke to, they’ve seen the merit in the film and they’ve held on to it. Three films were released on the same day, and while everybody knows about the film that performed so well, the other film lost theatres.”

Also read – Anupam Kher still hasn’t paid his actors and financers after Rs 50 crore Tanvi the Great underperforms with under Rs 2 crore amid Saiyaara wave

Kush congratulated the team behind Saiyaara for their success, but didn’t identify the film by name. “Nobody anticipated this wave, and box office results aren’t in our hands. I’m happy that a romantic film starring two newcomers has done so well. I’m happy for YRF, and I want to congratulate them,” he said, adding that the ‘other stakeholders’ in his film could’ve done things differently to anticipate Saiyaara and to promote Nikita Roy more forcefully. “Our film has survived the storm and has entered week two with 40%-50% increase in theatres,” he said.

Kush said that his family has appreciated Nikita Roy, and that he has received feedback from several others as well. “The best thing is that it is an entirely original film, we haven’t plagiarised content from anywhere,” he said. When it was pointed out to him that allegations of plagiarism have been made against the makers of Saiyaara, he said, “There have been discussions, but that is for them to answer. It’s up to them to clear their names. But I’ve always been clear that I want to tell original stories, and if I ever do a remake, it will be an official remake. Others might not share this point of view, and that’s up to them.”

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