Homecoming And The Return To Lost Innocence - Decoding Through Imtiaz Ali's Lens

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the teaser of Imtiaz Ali’s upcoming directorial, Vedang Raina’s Keenu declares ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ (I will return home soon), and that’s the title of the pre-India-Pakistan Partition-centric romantic movie. The emotion behind the title and dialogue is strong. A man, unwillingly separated from his home, his land and his loved ones, promises to return to where he belongs. Homecoming, in many Imtiaz movies, isn’t just a mere conclusion. It echoes the character’s quiet struggle; the struggle of leaving a part of the heart behind, adapting to a new world and once again finding the soul that the hardships of society pushed to an unknown corner.

Imtiaz Ali decodes homecoming theme in his films

In Main Vaapas Aaunga’s scenario, Imtiaz focuses on Keenu and Jiya’s (Sharvari) young love story. The Partition separates them, but his promise of coming back keeps hope alive. Clinging onto the thinnest rope of faith, Ali’s characters often have the strongest willpower. The people in his cinematic universe, though flawed, are relatably realistic. As the audience hops onto a journey called life with them, the end of the ride changes something within them deeply. Talking to Zoom about the sentiment of homecoming in his films, he mentioned, “I have to find where in my life it exists. I believe I am more aware of where it exists in my movies, and it must be the case, but I don’t know how it plays in my life.”

Imtiaz Ali film characters return 'home' to innocence

Nobody does the theme of homecoming better than Imtiaz. The magic happens because he never looks at characters through a one-dimensional lens. As he always says, characters are his people. They are forever around him. One such person is Veera. Her story in the 2014 film Highway shook the audience to the core, subtly and gently prompting them to look at life and companions on the journey through a different lens. Her abduction, meeting Mahabir and finding her soul in the mountains, where she learns the actual meaning of freedom. Though Veera reunites with her parents, she chooses to leave behind a traumatic life and embrace the quietness and ever-welcoming vastness and quiet of the unassuming mountains with Mahabir. Unlike Mahabir, she has a home and a family, but her real abode is far from material joys. For Veera, the mountains and Mahabir are her home. While Veera learns what home means, Ved from Tamasha reunites with his true self after a long and emotional detour into the maze called ‘adulting’. Distant from Tara and his passion, he is the person who is a living example of how society’s pressure on men to be the breadwinner can be the silent killer of ambition, enthusiasm and the hidden child that dreams and aims for the sky.

Imtiaz Ali on home, innocence and reuniting with soul

“Coming back home must be precious not only to me but to the people I hang with. This is a strong emotion because every progress is also a certain loss, and every achievement is also giving up on something. The desire to return to something precious is sometimes inevitably a return to your own innocence, which you feel. The person that you were back at home is not anymore. That is a wistful thought, and that is something that everybody can relate to,” said Imtiaz to Zoom. Exactly! And Kareena Kapoor’s Geet from Jab We Met would agree with what Imtiaz said. This Sikhni from Bhatinda gave birth to a new category of female protagonists who were unapologetically outspoken, fun and dramatic. She wore her heart on her sleeve and loved Anshuman unconditionally. Before she met him, Geet was a personality that exuded childlike innocence, madness and rawness. She was never afraid of putting herself out there and blended into the crowd while standing tall. Something changed within her when Anshuman betrayed her. Stuck between guilt and grief, she once again embraces her past self with Shahid Kapoor’s Aditya. He heals her inner child. For Geet, home is where Aditya is and where she is loved for who she is.

How Imtiaz Ali films view 'home'

In Imtiaz Ali’s films, home isn’t necessarily a place, location or country. It can be a human, a platform or just an Indian sleeper train that makes a person feel validated, respected and recognised without demanding him or her to change for society. The journey that takes one back to the soil, land and family where one’s soul lies, that is called homecoming in Imtiaz’s dictionary.

Main Vaapas Aaunga and the promise to return home

The same emotion flows in Main Vaapas Aaunga. Keenu, the older self played by Naseeruddin Shah, looks for his Jiya. The desire to return home, to his ‘pind’ in current Pakistan, keeps him alive while being on his deathbed. The question is whether he will ever make it back home for one last time. This journey of returning to the land that gave him love and unconditional freedom promises to be an emotional ride. In Imtiaz’s words, this film is ‘personal’.