Saiyaara stars Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda win IMDb’s Breakout Star awards 

 Debutant Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda have bagged the IMDb ‘Breakout Star STARmeter’ awards for their romantic hit Saiyaara. In the Mohit Suri directorial, Panday plays the role of Krish Kapoor, an emotionally complex musician while Padda plays a budding journalist, Vaani Batra, who aids Krish through writing songs. Their romance and the challenges that come with it forms the basic premise of Saiyaara.

The pair received the awards based on their performance on IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities rankings, which measures engagement from the platform’s global user base. The duo had topped IMDb’s popularity rankings since the romance-drama released on July 18.

The two stars have surpassed India, with both performers landing in the global top 100 - Padda at 64 and Panday at 75. Panday said that the award marks the first of his career and “the fact that it comes directly from audiences makes it all the more special”. He also thanked Yash Raj Films, Aditya Chopra and Suri who he called the “best mentor”.

“IMDb was a portal for me to lose myself into world cinema. To be mentioned on it, to be a part of it, to be honoured by it, and to know that I’m up there somewhere, would have been something that a 12-year-old on his box computer could never have fathomed, but always dreamed of,” Pandey said.

“Sharing this award with my co-star Aneet makes this achievement even more special. She deserves not only this but the world. For now, I want to focus on my journey ahead. I want to focus on my next film and work twice as hard to deliver another performance that I can be proud of. I’m overwhelmed to have received this unanimous love from people, it still shocks me to this day, and honestly, I think the only way to go forward is keep my head low and keep working.” Padda also thanked IMDb for the “meaningful recognition”, a career first for her as well.