Bollywood Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali has cleared the air on his new project Main Vaapas Aaunga, saying it is not a direct retelling of one person’s life.
In a recent interview, Ali said the movie isn’t tied to a specific true event. The core idea came from talking to people who lived through the 1947 Partition and carrying their memories into the script.
Imtiaz Ali said the story started forming while he was filming in Delhi and Punjab. Meeting Partition survivors during that period pushed him to explore what they had seen and felt. He said he tends to dig into the backstories of people and places he comes across, and those thoughts usually turn into storylines later.
The director added that he has been lost in his own head since childhood. Most of his scripts, he said, bubble up from daily observations and things his mind holds onto without him noticing.
Ali said no one really knows where stories start. For him, it’s usually people and small moments around him that keep feeding ideas.
Once an idea settles in, he said, it keeps growing until he’s telling it to anyone who’ll listen, “even a rickshaw driver on the way home.”
Main Vaapas Aaunga casts Naseeruddin Shah as an old man who never moved on from the lover he was separated from during Partition. Near the end of his life he wants one final meeting. His grandson steps in to piece together the love story that was left unfinished.
Sharvari plays the younger version of Shah’s lover, while Vedang Raina takes on the role of young Naseeruddin Shah.
