Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali’s latest film, Main Vaapas Aaunga (2026), has won the hearts of audiences across India. Despite an initially slow start, the film witnessed a remarkable turnaround, driven by strong word-of-mouth and widespread critical acclaim. With this success, Imtiaz Ali once again proves why he is regarded as the master of stories about love, longing, and the inability to move on.
A poignant exploration of trauma, memory, and healing set against the backdrop of the 1947 Partition of India, Main Vaapas Aaunga tells the story of 95-year-old Ishar Singh, affectionately called Keenu (Naseeruddin Shah), who is bedridden and suffering from dementia. As he gradually loses his grip on the present, he longs to revisit his ancestral home in Sargodha, now in Pakistan.
What is particularly interesting is that Main Vaapas Aaunga, which is based on true events, shares striking structural and thematic similarities with Assamese filmmaker Sanjib Sabhapandit’s National Award-winning film Dikchow Banat Palaax (2016). The Assamese film follows an ageing freedom fighter (Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee) who yearns to revisit the Naga Hills—then part of Assam—where he had once taken refuge.
The framing narrative of Main Vaapas Aaunga revolves around Keenu’s grandson, Nirvair (Diljit Dosanjh), who serves as his caregiver and attempts to make sense of the old man’s fragmented recollections of the past. Similarly, Dikchow Banat Palaax centres on the family of the ageing freedom fighter, who try to comfort the emotionally shattered old man as he desperately cries out to visit Mokokchung, Nagaland, in the middle of the night.
Both protagonists are consumed by an overwhelming longing for places they once left behind, believing they would one day return. Main Vaapas Aaunga flashes back to pre-Partition India, where a young Keenu (Vedang Raina) falls in love with Afsana (Sharvari). Their blossoming romance is abruptly shattered by the violence of Partition, forcing Keenu onto a train bound for India. In the present, Nirvair pieces together the fragments of his grandfather’s memories to uncover the painful secrets Keenu carried throughout his life.
The narrative of Dikchow Banat Palaax unfolds in a similar fashion. It also travels back in time to 1946, portraying Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee’s character as he mobilises and educates the Naga people, then part of Assam, for their empowerment. Living among them for several years, he embraces their way of life and falls in love with a Naga woman. However, history intervenes, and the two are tragically separated forever.
As their pasts fade into distant memories, the promise to return continues to haunt both men. In Main Vaapas Aaunga, it is an unrecited poem addressed to his beloved that compels Keenu to return. In Dikchow Banat Palaax, the protagonist is driven by a desire to repay the coins the Naga woman had given him for survival before they were separated. While the freedom fighter himself eventually journeys to Nagaland with an aide, in Main Vaapas Aaunga, Nirvair travels to Sargodha and shows the place to his grandfather through a video call.
Both films leave a profound emotional impact long after the credits roll. They focus on human suffering and the helplessness of ordinary people amid the upheavals surrounding India’s independence. Dikchow Banat Palaax was also honoured with the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration at the 64th National Film Awards.
Meanwhile, audiences have embraced Main Vaapas Aaunga because it replaces the hyper-nationalism seen in films such as Dhurandhar (2025) with genuine emotion and understated sentiment. More importantly, both films ultimately emerge as deeply humanistic tributes to love, belonging, and closure.
The performances form the emotional core of Main Vaapas Aaunga. Naseeruddin Shah delivers a performance worthy of the highest accolades, portraying with remarkable sensitivity a man struggling with dementia while desperately trying to reclaim his fading memories and fulfil a promise made decades earlier. Vedang Raina and Sharvari bring an old-world innocence and convincing chemistry to their characters, making the eventual tragedy even more heartbreaking.
Similarly, Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee anchors Dikchow Banat Palaax with extraordinary vulnerability. His performance captures the profound grief of an old man burdened by a lifetime of regret, loss, and longing. He is ably supported by Mala Goswami, Chinmoy Chakraborty, Mina Ingti, and Sajan Nayak.
Imtiaz Ali has long been fascinated by stories of incomplete love, unfulfilled desires, and painful separation, making Keenu’s journey a natural extension of his cinematic universe. With a considerably larger budget, Ali is able to paint his story on a grander canvas, whereas Dikchow Banat Palaax operates within the limitations of a modest production. Nevertheless, the Assamese film is equally effective in exploring an incomplete yet eternal love story while examining relationships between individuals and communities amid socio-political turmoil. Through their focus on the emotional conflicts of their protagonists, both films celebrate the enduring power of human connection.
While the music of Main Vaapas Aaunga is composed by A. R. Rahman, the background score of Dikchow Banat Palaax is composed by Anurag Saikia.