Main Vaapas Aaunga, the Imtiaz Ali directorial venture that released theatrically in June, will soon be available for streaming in India. The partition drama, which stars Naseeruddin Shah, Sharvari, Vedang Raina, and Diljit Dosanjh in the lead cast, can be viewed on Netflix starting from August 7, as per an official listing on the streamer.
Jointly produced by Applause Entertainment and Window Seat Films, Main Vaapas Aaunga tells the story of Ishar Singh Grewal (Naseeruddin Shah), a 95 year old man on his deathbed who expresses a desire to revisit the town where he grew up, which now however lies on the other side of the India-Pakistan border. As Ishar revisits his adolescent years in fragmented conversations with his grandson Nirvair (Diljit Dosanjh), the audience gets a glimpse of the horrors of partition and how the aftermath impacted the lives of a young Ishar (Vedang Raina), Afsana (Sharvari) and everyone in undivided Punjab and Bengal.
After a dull start at the box office, Main Vaapas Aaunga witnessed a miraculous recovery at the box office, owing to the strong word-of-mouth across the board and an extensive promotional plan by the makers where director Imtiaz Ali and Vedang visited many screens nationwide, interacting with their film’s audience. On Friday, the film also completed 50 days of its theatrical run, a rarity in present times.
Reportedly, made on a budget of Rs 70 crore, Main Vaapas Aaunga grossed more than 99 crore worldwide, out of which 77 crore came from its domestic market.
In our review for the film, Kartik Bhardwaj noted, “Imtiaz has never been a particularly political filmmaker, atleast not directly. His films always come from a deep, personal place. His characters almost always are the misfits who want to run away to find themselves. This time he zooms out, he makes the personal, political. This film is about Punjab, about the buried trauma of the refugees and how pain gives birth to patriarchy.”
