When Imtiaz Ali, AR Rahman, and Irshad Kamil reunite, music history follows. The trio behind ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Tamasha’ is back with ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, a Partition love story releasing June 12, 2026.
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‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ releases on June 12, 2026 (Friday). Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the film stars Diljit Dosanjh, Naseeruddin Shah, Vedang Raina, Sharvari Wagh. It is set against the backdrop of India’s 1947 Partition and tells love story across two generations.
Diljit Dosanjh plays a popular YouTuber whose grandfather, played by Naseeruddin Shah, is on his deathbed, longing for a love lost during Partition. Diljit’s character travels to Pakistan to find out about the woman his grandfather has not met in 78 years.
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The music is composed by AR Rahman. The lyrics are written by Irshad Kamil. The three of them; Imtiaz Ali, AR Rahman, and Irshad Kamil have worked together before. Their last two collaborations produced some of the most listened-to soundtracks in Hindi cinema.
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Irshad Kamil was born in 1971 in Malerkotla, Punjab. He holds a PhD in Hindi poetry. He worked for newspapers in Chandigarh before moving to Mumbai to write for television soaps.
In 2002, a common acquaintance introduced him to music director Sandesh Shandilya, who was working on the music of Imtiaz Ali’s debut film ‘Socha Na Tha’ (2005). Shandilya introduced Kamil to Ali not as a lyricist, but as a poet.
Since that introduction, Kamil has worked on every film Imtiaz Ali has directed.
‘Rockstar’ was the first film where Imtiaz Ali, AR Rahman, and Irshad Kamil all worked together. The album features 14 tracks. All lyrics were written by Irshad Kamil. The album was released on September 30, 2011 by T-Series.
The album topped the iTunes world charts in 2011. That is not a common thing for a Hindi film soundtrack.
The album spans several genres. Rahman told Imtiaz Ali that Jordan, the protagonist, is inarticulate and can only express himself through music. When Jordan is in Prague with gypsies, he absorbs their sound and makes gypsy music, that became ‘Hawaa Hawaa’. When Jordan is at Nizamuddin Dargah, spending time with qawwals, that became ‘Kun Faya Kun’.
‘Kun Faya Kun’ was shot at Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in New Delhi. The qawwals who performed on screen, the Nizami clan, were regular performers at the dargah.
For ‘Nadaan Parinde’, Irshad Kamil adapted a doha written by Baba Farid.
For ‘Hawaa Hawaa’, Kamil said it took him ten days to write the lyrics. Ali was shooting in Prague and wanted the lyrics based on a Czech folk tale called “Sleepy John.”
The awards followed. At the 57th Filmfare Awards, ‘Rockstar’ received 10 nominations including Best Film and Best Director. It won five, including Best Actor for Ranbir Kapoor and Best Music Director for AR Rahman.
Irshad Kamil won the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for ‘Nadaan Parinde’.
At the IIFA Awards, AR Rahman won Best Music Direction and Irshad Kamil won Best Lyrics for ‘Nadaan Parinde’.
In 2020, the ‘Rockstar’ album won the Mirchi Music Award for Album of the Decade.
Four years later, the three reunited for ‘Tamasha’. The soundtrack album was released on October 16, 2015. All lyrics were again written by Irshad Kamil. Music composed by AR Rahman. The album features 9 tracks and covers genres including European dance, bhangra, opera, Hindustani classical, and dubstep.
The film starred Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.
The tracks ‘Matargashti’ and ‘Agar Tum Saath Ho’ were chart-toppers on Indian music charts.
‘Agar Tum Saath Ho’, sung by Alka Yagnik and Arijit Singh, went on to become one of the most streamed Hindi songs in the years that followed. Irshad Kamil won the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for ‘Agar Tum Saath Ho’. That was his third Filmfare win for Best Lyricist. All three wins came from Imtiaz Ali films. Two of those three specifically came from albums scored by AR Rahman.
Critics praised the trio for producing classy and commercial numbers together.
The trio also worked together on ‘Highway’ (2014) and ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ (2024).
‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ was Imtiaz Ali’s Netflix debut and his second collaboration with Diljit Dosanjh as a lead actor. That makes ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ their third time working together, twice now with AR Rahman and Irshad Kamil on board.
The trailer released on May 19, 2026. The film’s screenplay credit goes to Imtiaz Ali and Nayanika Mahtani. It is production of Birla Studios, Applause Entertainment, and Window Seat Films.
In the past timeline set in 1947, Vedang Raina and Sharvari play a young couple in Punjab whose love story is broken apart by the violence and migration of Partition. At the border, Vedang’s character makes a promise that he will come back.
This also reunites AR Rahman, Irshad Kamil, and Imtiaz Ali, the same team behind ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Tamasha’.
Between ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Tamasha’, the three produced three Filmfare wins, one Album of the Decade award, and two of the most talked-about Hindi soundtracks of the 2010s. ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ is the first time in over a decade that all three are working on a theatrical release together.
‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ releases in cinemas on June 12, 2026.
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