More than a film controversy, ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ has reignited conversations about identity, belonging and history. Imtiaz Ali says the story is rooted in human emotions, not political divisions.
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Imtiaz Ali isn’t backing down from the criticism his new film has been getting. Some people called ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ “anti-national,” but the director says that’s completely missing the point. For him, this was never a film about picking sides between India and Pakistan. It’s about the pain of Partition and how it changed people’s lives forever.
In a conversation with The Tribune, Ali said the film is really about human emotion, not politics. He also didn’t hold back when talking about Indian Muslims, pointing out how they’ve proven their loyalty to the country again and again, even while facing suspicion and hate from certain quarters.
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Ali pushed back hard against the idea that his film carries any political agenda. He explained that the story revolves in undivided India, before the country even split into India and Pakistan, so judging it through today’s political lens doesn’t make sense.
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“The film is set in undivided India, so it’s not about loving or hating Pakistan,” he said. He also mentioned that while working on the film and talking to people connected to that period, he never once ran into hatred. “Of all the people I met, none of them spoke of hatred,” he added.
Ali didn’t stop there. He also took a moment to address how Indian Muslims are often unfairly judged.
“More than anyone else, Indian Muslims have proved their patriotism by deciding to stay in India when they had a choice,” he said.
It was a direct response to the people questioning their loyalty. His point was simple: the fact that they chose to stay back in India after Partition, when they didn’t have to, says everything about where their loyalty lies.
‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ is set during 1947, one of the darkest periods in Indian history. But instead of portraying political conflict, the film leans into the emotional side of it all, the displacement, the broken identities, the love people lost simply because borders shifted overnight.
It follows people who had to leave everything behind and start over somewhere unfamiliar. Through their stories, the film quietly asks a question that stays with you: what actually makes a place feel like home?
When asked what home means to him personally, he tied his answer back to the heart of the film. He said home isn’t just a place, it’s also a version of yourself. Talking about Ishar, one of the film’s characters, Ali said everyone carries this quiet longing to go back to who they were when they still had a home to return to.
‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ didn’t have a huge opening at the box office, but it’s been picking up steam since, mostly through word of mouth. Ali has been going city to city, visiting theatres and meeting people who’ve watched it, and that seems to be helping the film build momentum slowly but steadily.
The cast includes Diljit Dosanjh, Sharvari and Vedang Raina, with Vedang playing the younger version of Naseeruddin Shah’s character.
This is also Imtiaz Ali’s second film with Diljit Dosanjh, after their earlier collaboration on ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’. And once again, he has teamed up with AR Rahman and lyricist Irshad Kamil, the same duo behind the music of ‘Rockstar’, ‘Highway’, ‘Tamasha’ and ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’.
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