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Imtiaz Ali and his love stories have redefined romance for an entire generation. When the teaser of his next release, Main Vaapas Aaunga, his fans were thrilled as the filmmaker, after Amar Singh Chamkila, went back to chart a familiar territory. So, a heart-wrenching love story set against the backdrop of the India-Pakistan partition quickly captured the imagination.
Some, however, felt a similarity with Love Aaj Kal. The set-up, the cross-generational love story and the cross-cuts between the present day and the yesteryear, to some, felt like a callback to the Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone film, a template that found a repetition in the eponymous film starring Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan too.
Speaking exclusively to News18, Imtiaz reacts
to these comparisons and shuts them down. “This isn’t a cross-generational romance. It’s not like we’re telling or comparing two love stories in this one film. It’s set in a different era. There’s only Jiya and Kinu. Main Vaapas Aaunga is all about them. In that way, it’s not Love Aaj Kal,” he asserts.
“I’m not even wasting my time to explain to people that it’s not Love Aaj Kal. Anybody who sees the film, Love Aaj Kal isn’t what they’ll be thinking about. However, a discovery of the past time from the present point of view is a big part of this film. Reminiscence is a big part of this film. This concept of ‘what I’ve lost with time’ is a big part of this film,” Imtiaz adds.
According to the filmmaker, the Diljit Dosanjh, Sharvari and Vedang Raina starrer may be set many decades ago but its core theme will find a resonance even today, making the personal become political. “It’s about ‘what I remember almost makes my personality the way it is now’. It makes a big impression at a time when migration is so drastic,” he tells us.
The director further continues, “You put the television on and you see people migrating from one country to another across borders, legally and illegally. The sense of loss isn’t only material. It’s also emotional. This film is a bit about that, about the love that you carry when you cross a border.” Interestingly, Main Vaapas Aaunga also touches upon a thread he has explored in his previous outings.
Be it Jab We Met, Rockstar, Highway, Tamasha or Jab Harry Met Sejal, the trifecta of love, passion and longing forms an integral part of any Imtiaz film. Quiz him about it and he remarks, “When I start writing a story, I don’t think of any themes or about visiting a particular template. It’s only when I’m in a conversation with someone, this question gets asked to me.”
“There must be something that comes through in a state that I’m unaware of – what I’m writing and why I’m writing. In fact, I’m always trying to do something that I haven’t done before. But there’s still an accent that comes through in the way that I’m telling a story. I can only say that I’m not deliberately doing it at all,” Imtiaz adds.
