The Vaidya and Tikekar (1982) ansatz has so far provided numerous stellar solutions which are useful for the description of compact stars like neutron stars and quark stars. We re-examine the impacts of the spacetime curvature parameter of the Vaidya–Tikekar ansatz on the physical properties of the relativistic anisotropic star. For a spherically symmetric, static and anisotropic stellar configuration, in the Vaidya–Tikekar background spacetime, we develop new exact solutions by assuming a polytropic type equation of state pr=kρ1+1n−β. Recent data from observed pulsars are taken as input parameters to validate the developed model. We examine the impact of the spheroidal curvature parameter of the VT spacetime on the stellar behaviour and mass–radius (M–R) relationship. It is observed that with the increase in the departure from spherical geometry, values of physical quantities, such as density and pressure, increase.