HT Leadership Summit 2026: Imtiaz Ali never thought Main Vaapas Aaunga was a risky film, says ‘there was no Pakistan, only undivided India’

At the 24th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Imtiaz Ali spoke about his recent release, Main Vaapas Aaunga, and its appeal to Gen Z and more.

Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali and actor Ananya Panday were guests at the 24th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday. While there, the duo spoke about cinema and discussed their work. Imtiaz spoke about his recent release, Main Vaapas Aaunga, which appeals to Gen Z despite being set during the India-Pakistan partition. He also remarked that the film was not depicting Pakistan, just an undivided India.

Imtiaz Ali at the 24th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, in conversation about his films.

Follow live updates on HTLS 2026 here.

Imtiaz Ali on Main Vaapas Aaunga not being a risky film

At the HT Leadership Summit, Imtiaz argued that his film wasn’t risky because it didn’t depict Pakistan. “I knew that there was no Pakistan in my film; it was undivided India,” he pointed out, adding, “Because those portions lay across a border that was later established.”

Imtiaz stated that meeting many who lived during the partition inspired the tale: “I felt that meeting a lot of individuals that have seen partition from their own eyes, and listening to their stories, I realised that the narration of the third generation of partition survivors is missing in the media space now. We don’t know how a 75-year-old person views partition now, 78 years after the partition and independence of the country. His view is very different from the first-generation refugee.”

Talking about the film’s subject further, he added, “The kind of brisk, immediate, either anger or loss, has gone to almost a surmise, where the beautiful things are more remembered. This is the victory of human emotion, I feel. That it tends to remember the beautiful things, happy things, rather than the negative ones. I learnt this in meeting these elderly gentlemen and ladies that have gone through partition. And this was not represented in cinema. So I thought, I must do this. And I must do this at the time when some of them are still with us.”

Imtiaz reiterated that he never believed Main Vaapas Aaunga had anything that would potentially hurt anyone, stating, “No, I wasn’t ever thinking that there’s going to be anything in the film that is going to be controversial or hurtful to anybody. I never thought it’s a risky film.”

On Main Vaapas Aaunga appealing to Gen Z

Imtiaz also spoke about how he always believed that Main Vaapas Aaunga would appeal to Gen Z, stating, “Nobody told me that Gen Z will not relate, because I’m very convinced that the Gen Z more than anyone will relate to a painful love story. I think painful love story is their thing. That’s because some of them miss it. Some of them miss the kind of commitment that they see in films or read in books in their own life. It has become imminently difficult to get into that kind of situation or commitment.”

Main Vaapas Aaunga was released in June and stars Naseeruddin Shah, Diljit Dosanjh, Sharvari, and Vedang Raina in lead roles. It is available to stream on Netflix.