The filmmaker explains how the film rebuilds 1947 through fragmented memory, using selective visuals, lighting shifts, and custom lensing to reflect how the past is actually remembered.
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Slightly blurred, emotionally sharp, and full of half-remembered faces. That’s exactly how Imtiaz Ali is shaping his upcoming Diljit Dosanjh starrer ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, and the filmmaker is already spilling interesting details.
Speaking during promotions, Imtiaz Ali opened up to IANS about how deeply layered the film is, especially since it marks his second collaboration with Diljit Dosanjh.
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Set in the turbulent post-Partition era, the film steps into one of the most intense human migrations in history, when the 1947 Partition led to the displacement of nearly 14 to 18 million people across the newly formed borders of India and Pakistan. But instead of treating it like a textbook retelling, Imtiaz is building it like a memory that breathes.
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Imtiaz Ali’s biggest creative twist in ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ is how he treats memory as a design language. He revealed that the filmmaking approach is rooted in the idea that memories are never complete. They are clean in parts, missing in others, emotionally selective.
To achieve this, the team worked with special lensing styles and production design choices that reflect how people actually remember the past.
According to him, when we recall something, we don’t see every detail. We only remember selective visuals. That idea has been turned into the film’s visual structure.
He also explained that casting was carefully done so that the faces on screen feel like they belong to old photographs from the 1940s.
The styling process involved close collaboration with the look team, including Shoma and Sheetal from the costume department, to recreate clothing and appearances inspired by archival images from Punjab in that era.
During the research phase, the team discovered details that changed their initial understanding of the time period. One of the biggest surprises was how culturally westernised people in India were during the 1940s. Imtiaz shared that many people were listening to English music and had fashion and hairstyles influenced by the West.
This changed the creative direction of the film’s music references, styling, and even character presentation.
Another major discovery was about colours and clothing. The team learned that dye availability in that period was limited, which directly influenced how clothes looked in real life.
Imtiaz also spoke about how even lighting in the film carries emotional weight. The “light of memory,” as he described it, has its own tone and texture. To achieve this, the team experimented with custom filters and lens techniques.
‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ is produced by Sameer Nair and Deepak Segal under Applause Entertainment, along with Mohit Choudhary and Shibasish Sarkar representing Window Seat Films.
The film also continues Imtiaz’s creative partnership with Diljit Dosanjh.
The makers have confirmed that ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ will release in cinemas on June 12, 2026.
With inputs from IANS.
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