The Nuances of "Main Wapas Aaunga"
By Ashmit Avash · 29 June 2026 · KFS Blog
The Partition was Brutal. The Partition was Harrowing. The Partition was Cruel.
To depict it, there must have been hundreds of
movies and documentaries. But what I find is that they fail to understand the
familial bonds that were torn and the love that was lost. A love that blossomed
when the lands were undivided but forced to be apart. This movie is exactly
about that. A love that has been long lost, yet never forgotten, lingering
inside the hearts of lovers, even at times where their existence is at peril.
I went into the theatre with a blank slate, I
genuinely wanted to experience this movie as a standalone piece of art. I
wanted to devote my unbiased attention to it, and it paid off. Prejudice is a
funny thing, if we see or read criticisms online we will start to think harshly
of a piece of art, but if we just let go of it, form our own opinions we will
see something how it was truly meant for us to see.
The movie released in theatres with a fair
share of controversy and drama. Mostly surrounding the fact that Mahesh Bhatt’s
AI Slop movie and David Dhawan’s Commercial slop movie were raking in
absolutely abysmal numbers but they kept hogging up screens throughout India.
Even in my city, where I watched it, I couldn't even find a single show after
the weekend until the next week. The Second week is where it truly shined.
Main Vaapis Aaunga, truly “came back” within
the second week of tickets being on sale because of the insane word of mouth
publicity the movie had. And why would it not have been the case. The movie is
in fact deserving of all the love and attention it has been receiving
throughout the cinema circles in India. From critics to fans alike this movie
has struck a chord in everyone’s hearts making it a sensation.
The main themes of this movie include the
abrupt partition. The abruptness of which caused families who had lived on a
piece of land forever to suddenly turn into occupants. The movie for the
majority of the flashback part takes place in a town called “Sargodha” which is
in the Pakistani side of Punjab, ethnically, culturally and spiritually the
same as Punjab in India. Yet, a border drawn by a British Man inside a Hotel in
Delhi is the end all, be all for the people who are just living the normal
life.
Imtiaz Ali said once that even if he made an
historical movie it would be a story of the common people. The common people in
any conflict whether it be existing anywhere in the world are the ones who
suffer the most. They are the ones who deal with the consequences of the ego
battles that the powerful enjoy having all the time. Imagine you are told to
leave your home, your family and everything behind and move to a whole new
place just because a line was drawn and now you’re supposed to act hostile with
your neighbour, your friends, your colleagues and your lovers too.
Main Vaapas Aaunga documents a treacherous
chapter of Indian history. No amount of reading, understanding or portrayals
can match the torturous ache it amounted to in the hearts of people who
suffered. Yet this movie comes closest to making us understand what the people
endured, the dehumanizing nature of the violence and the savagery born from
people who were neighbours one day, enemies another.
There’s a lot of good to talk about, whether
it be the beautiful album composed by AR Rehman and lyrics by Irshad Kamil or
the excellent cinematography by Sylvester Fonesca blending in with the
immaculate vision of Imtiaz Ali creating a mix of love, desire and longing that
will make anyone cry. I love how this movie never dehumanises the violence, it
also never blames one side over the other rather it shows the resilience of the
people who lived through the pain and their hopes of a better future.
This movie also presents the agitators as not
something which is “religious”, rather it is savagery being promoted by people
in power who are trigger happy and always ready for violence. This exact
savagery is brilliantly expressed in the story by calling them “The Martians”
who came from Mars to attack the Moon.
There’s some bad too, like the story bounces
between storylines of the present and the past, yet the character in the
present played by Diljit Dosanjh was very forgettable for me. I didn’t resonate
with him as much as the film intended for me to. It wasn’t necessarily a bad
performance but I will say that it was completely overshadowed by Naserrudin
Shah, Vedang Raina and Sharvari.
This movie feels like a breath of fresh air,
and easily is the best movie coming out of Hindi cinema thus far in 2026. I’ll
give this movie a solid 8.5 on a scale of 10.
But just talking about the brilliance of the
movie wouldn’t have been enough, we needed to act upon it and in fact everyone
did. This piece of beauty is still at an all time high, they are adding shows
and giving back the attention that the movie deserves. I urge everyone who is
reading this to go try this out in the theatres and see for yourself how
beautiful Indian cinema can be, and how beautifully it can express love,
longing and the feeling of home.
