How sensitive retelling of Partition found place in Bollywood's azaadi stories; Imtiaz Ali and Rajkumar Santoshi explain

Main Vaapas Aunga and Batwara 1947 are films set during India's independence, but both focus on the Partition, using a human lens rather than political.

In two months, Hindi cinema has seen the release of two big films set during the Partition of India. Mind you, I use the term Partition, not Independence, because these two films make that distinction clearly. Both Main Vaapas Aaunga and Batwara 1947 talk about the human cost of the Partition of India and Pakistan, but without talking about the hatred or vitriol. These are films about love, about hope, and most importantly, about learning from the past. Two films may not signify a trend, but 2026 has shown that Bollywood can speak sensitively about something as painful as the Partition.

‘A story of two people but also of a country’

Vedang Raina plays a young Sikh man forced to leave his village after Partition in Main Vaapas Aaunga.

Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga is a love story that transcends time and borders. Set in 1947, it is about Keenu (Vedang Raina) and Jiya (Sharvari) living on, keeping the promise to each other in their hearts. “This is a story of two people but also the story of a country,” the filmmaker tells us. Imtiaz says he understood the challenge of making a soft love story set during the biggest humanitarian tragedy in history. But he found the middle ground by ‘focusing on Jiya and Keenu’. He explains, “It is their personal story and everything else that is happening is kind of out of focus.”

Main Vaapas Aaunga stars Sharvari and Vedang Raina as young lovers in 1947's Punjab.

‘Partition saw immense courage and heinous barbarity both’

Batwara 1947 is about a Muslim family in Lahore sheltering a Hindu woman after Partition.

Talking about taking an objective approach to telling a story from that era, director Santoshi says, “Partition ke time pe yeh dekha gaya hai insaan ne bulandiyan bhi touch ki hai, great courage dikhaya hai, great sacrifices bhi diye hain, aur utne ghinaune harkat bhi insaan ne kiye hain. Yeh donon cheez Partition mein dekhi gayi hain. Iss film mein bhi aise emotions hain. (It has been observed that during the Partition, humanity scaled great heights—demonstrating immense courage and making profound sacrifices—yet also committed truly heinous acts. Both these facets were witnessed during the Partition. This film captures those very emotions).”

Focus on personal pain, not political upheaval

Both these films have one commonality with other stories about Partition. They look at it through the lens of an individual or a family, rather than as a nation, thereby personalising pain. But while earlier, the pain was largely about the loss of home or identity, now it has transcended that. Preity Zinta, who returns to the big screen with Batwara 1947, explains, “It’s not about ki udhar kya ho raha hai, idhar kya ho raha hai (what is happening this side or that side). It’s about humare ghar mein kya ho raha hai (what is happening in my home). When world events happen, you don’t look at it that way. Woh toh history mein in retrospect aap dekh ke bolte hain ki arre aisa hua (You look back and reflect on how it happened). When you are going through a situation, your first instinct is: my family and me. That is how different people react.”

A still of how the migration after Partition is depicted in Main Vaapas Aaunga.

The challenge to that is not reducing the political upheaval and the human tragedy to something subservient to an individual’s ‘selfish’ pain. But Imtiaz says a balance has to be sought. “It's not as though that we are pretending that it is not happening. We are not trying to say that what is happening is pleasant at all. We fully respect and acknowledge the authenticity of the incidents that occurred in 1947. However, the story is about a young boy and a young girl who are deeply aggrieved by the events of Partition for a very personal reason. They are not so mature or large-hearted as to say that the division of the country is my problem. For them, the problem is the divide between you and me. That's what matters to people personally,” says the filmmaker.

Batwara 1947 releases in theatres today, August 14. Main Vaapas Aaunga is currently streaming on Netflix, having completed its theatrical run successfully.