Saiyaara: Can Alzheimer’s affect people in their 20s as shown in the film? What experts say

In Saiyaara, Aneet’s character suffers from forgetfulness. The appearance of her ex-fiancé causes a shock response, leading her to forget the previous six months

Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda's film Saiyaara has caught audiences’ attention for more reasons than one. While many have found an emotional resonance with the love story between Krish Kapoor (Ahaan), a musician, and 22-year-old aspiring journalist Vaani Batra (Aneet), what hasn’t gone down well is how the latter is shown to be battling early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Reportedly, early onset is least likely to occur before the age of 40, and conclusive symptoms rarely appear in people in their 20s or 30s.

Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that slowly impairs memory, reasoning, and thinking skills, affecting everyday tasks and bodily functions. While plaques and tangles in the brain are normal as people age, Alzheimer’s patients are more likely to have them.

Largely, it is seen as the disease of the elderly, and rarely hits someone in their 20s as shown in the movie. “It is called early-onset Alzheimer's dementia, which is defined as dementia occurring before the age of 65. If it happens to someone in their 20s, it is extremely rare and usually due to genetic causes—mainly mutations in genes like APP and PSEN,” a senior neurologist told NDTV.

A strong family history of the disease-causing gene is typically the only explanation for such early onset. Reportedly, individuals with Down’s syndrome may also develop Alzheimer’s much earlier than others.

According to the National Health Service (NHS), some early symptoms include: forgetting conversations or events, misplacing items, forgetting names, struggling to find the right word, asking questions repetitively, showing poor judgment or decision-making, and becoming less flexible or more hesitant to try new things.

In the movie, Aneet’s character suffers from forgetfulness. Additionally, the appearance of her ex-fiancé causes a shock response, leading her to forget the previous six months. Experts say this sudden decline is far from reality and highly dramatised.

A neurologist told NDTV, “This doesn’t happen in real life. In someone who has underlying dementia or goes into depression, symptoms can worsen rapidly. But Alzheimer’s—which is just one of the causes of dementia—is not triggered by shock. Dementia, however, can be.”