Ayan Mukerji: The filmmaker who made an entire generation feel seen and heard!

With Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Wake Up Sid!, Ayan Mukerji not only made a name for himself as a prolific filmmaker but also represented millennials! 

Every year, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani or Wake Up Sid!'s anniversary is celebrated with tons of posts all over social media talking about what the films mean to us. In fact, Wake Up Sid! is one such film where the story after their 'happily ever after' made its way to an advertisement. And YJHD is one that lives rent-free in our hearts! Given their timelessness, sometimes you won't believe that they're both made by Ayan Mukerji, a young filmmaker who made his debut with Wake Up Sid! and etched his name forever with Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani!

You can say that Mukuerji is one of those few prolific Indian filmmakers who isn't just looking to make a career for himself but understands the audience's craving, especially the millennials. Because this was a younger, new generation whose perspective and outlook on life were different. They didn't just want a job; they wanted to feel alive doing what they did. They didn't just want to fall in love; they wanted friendship as well. They didn't just want a career but a passionate professional future. And just like how when one generation learns to walk so that the next can run, Wake Up Sid! upheld the legacy of a different outlook on coming-of-age films started by movies like Dil Chahta Hai and marched on further to make millennials feel represented as this was a generation that wanted everything that the earlier generation craved for.

Also Read: 10 moments from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani that are etched in our minds forever!

While Sid and Aisha made us fall in love with Mumbai, magazines, living by ourselves, terrace pe chai at midnight, and bread-jam cake, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani made us feel complete. Bunny, Naina, Avi, and Aditi came in full Bollywood masala style to cure our blues and give us a coming-of-age film to be remembered for a lifetime. They repackaged a cliche Bollywood entertainer with millennials' lives, desires, nostalgia and aspirations, combining our reality and dreams together. After all, from time to time, who doesn't want to open a box full of memories, woh hassi, woh khushi, woh dosti, fall completely in love with your polar opposites like Bunny and Naina and define the hustle culture as bhagna, udna, girna bas rukna nahi chahta hoon?

Mukerji continues to understand the wants and needs of the hour, as he gave us a film like Brahmāstra, kickstarting a whole mythological-based fantasy universe. But his incredible talent of weaving our realistic lives and our struggles through a poetic lens made us all feel seen and heard for the first time. No wonder he became a filmmaker who millennials look forward to, simply with two of his films! 

Happy Birthday to the maverick filmmaker!

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