Main Vaapas Aaunga Review: ★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Main Vaapas Aaunga released on June 12, 2026. Imtiaz Ali Reminds You That Partition Was Not Just History — It Was Someone’s Entire Life. Naseeruddin Shah, Diljit Dosanjh, Vedang Raina, and Sharvari star in Imtiaz Ali’s deeply emotional Partition drama with music by AR Rahman.
Main Vaapas Aaunga is a deeply emotional and beautifully acted Partition drama that reminds viewers of the human cost of history. While its lengthy runtime and uneven pacing hold it back from greatness, powerful performances, combined with memorable music, make it a heartfelt cinematic experience.
Rating: ★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Music: AR Rahman
Release: June 12, 2026
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Diljit Dosanjh, Vedang Raina, Sharvari, Rajat Kapoor, Banita Sandhu
Language: Hindi
There is a moment in Main Vaapas Aaunga that lasts barely two seconds. Naseeruddin Shah’s character — a 95-year-old man lying on his deathbed, his mind fading in and out, catches a glimpse of a portrait of the woman he has spent 78 years longing for. Without a word, without getting up, he reaches up and begins tidying his beard. Just that. Just the instinct to look presentable for her, after all this time, through all this fog.
That is the film in one gesture. And it is enough to make you cry in the middle of a cinema hall.
Main Vaapas Aaunga tells the story of Keenu, Ishar Singh Grewal, a Sikh man whose life was split in two by the 1947 Partition. As a young man in Sargodha, he fell in love with a Muslim girl named Jiya. Before they could build a life together, the borders were drawn, and everything was taken away. Now, nearly eight decades later, he lies dying in Delhi, his dementia pulling him back to the one chapter of his life he was never able to close. His grandson Nirvair, played by Diljit Dosanjh, flies in from London to be with him and gradually, reluctantly, becomes the person who must help his grandfather find whatever peace is still possible.
Imtiaz Ali has always understood love as something that does not end when circumstances do. His best films are about people who carry feelings across years, across distances, across versions of themselves they no longer recognise. Main Vaapas Aaunga is the most literal expression of that theme he has ever attempted, and when it works, which is often, it is devastating in the best possible way.
Naseeruddin Shah is extraordinary. His Keenu is not a man performing dementia. He is a man genuinely caught between two times, two worlds, two identities, and Shah inhabits that confusion with the kind of specificity that goes well beyond technique. Every scene he is in carries weight. The film could have been built entirely around him, and it would have been enough.
Vedang Raina and Sharvari, as the young Keenu and Jiya, bring a genuine innocence to their sequences. They are two people who have no reason to believe the world would not allow them their happiness, and that particular quality the brightness of people who do not yet know what is coming makes their eventual separation land hard. Sharvari continues to make careful choices in her career, and this is another one that suits her perfectly. Diljit Dosanjh, as the grandson, is the film’s emotional anchor in the present timeline, and while some reviewers have found his track less engaging, his performance is warmer and more grounded than that criticism suggests. The scenes between him and Shah are the film’s quietest and most human.
Vedang Raina delivers a career-defining performance in Main Vaapas Aaunga, marking a definitive turning point in his acting journey. As the young Keenu, he displays immense emotional range, effortlessly transitioning from innocent romance to embittered self, capturing the helplessness and pain of a young man stripped of innocence by the brutal circumstances of Partition. What makes Vedang’s performance so remarkable is his ability to eschew typical macho tropes and instead portray raw vulnerability with conviction. His dialogue delivery, expressions, and the subtle pain reflected in his eyes make every scene special, proving that he is not just a promising talent but someone who can carry the emotional weight of a film on his shoulders with remarkable ease.
Sharvari, on the other hand, is undeniably one of the finest talents in the industry today, and her performance as Jiya/Afsana is truly ethereal and memorable. She strikes the perfect balance between mischief, grace, and resilient strength, playing her character like a dream with goofy charm that is both mesmerizing and magnetic. Sharvari goes into the skin of her character with perfection, bringing confidence, innocence, and deep emotion to every moment. Her ability to essay someone dealing with the pangs of love and fear with panache leaves audiences craving more of her screen time. Together, Vedang and Sharvari create a chemistry that is both mesmerizing and emotionally resonant, making their love story one that lingers long after the credits roll.
AR Rahman, Imtiaz Ali, and Irshad Kamil are together again the trio that gave us Rockstar, Highway, and Tamasha, deliver a soundtrack that ranges from soulful to quietly devastating. Woh Nahin and Kya Kamaal Hai will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.
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The film is not without its problems. At 166 minutes, the first half stretches in places that the storytelling cannot fully justify. The romance between the young Keenu and Jiya, while sincere, takes time to develop the chemistry the second half demands of it. And the screenplay occasionally circles back to emotional territory it has already covered, testing your patience before rewarding it.
But when the second half opens up, when the full picture of what Keenu lost and what Nirvair has been slowly uncovering comes together, the film earns everything it has asked from you. The ending is heartbreaking and oddly peaceful at the same time. Exactly how the best Partition stories tend to feel.
Not Imtiaz Ali’s easiest film. Absolutely worth seeing.
Main Vaapas Aaunga is now playing in cinemas.