New Delhi

Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has praised Imtiaz Ali's Main Vaapas Aaunga, describing it as a rare film that places emotional truth above spectacle and saying its growing success proves that audiences often recognise authenticity before industry experts do.

The Partition-era drama had a slow start at the box office after its release but gradually gained momentum through positive word of mouth, eventually emerging as a surprise success.

The film stars Naseeruddin Shah as a 95-year-old man struggling with fading memories while revisiting an unfinished love story from pre-Partition India with the help of his grandson, played by Diljit Dosanjh. Vedang Raina and Sharvari portray the young lovers whose lives are torn apart by the Partition in Sargodha, now part of Pakistan.

In a note shared with the filmmakers, Bhatt reflected on the changing nature of cinema and applauded the film for choosing emotional depth over commercial formulas.

“At a time when cinema is increasingly dominated by speed, spectacle and hyper-masculine storytelling, a film that pauses to explore the inner life of human beings becomes an act of quiet defiance,” he wrote.

Bhatt noted that although the film was initially overlooked because it did not fit prevailing cinematic trends, viewers eventually embraced its emotional sincerity.

According to him, the true strength of cinema lies not in offering ready-made answers but in giving voice to questions that people quietly carry within themselves.

“The audience responds to those questions because they recognise something of themselves in them. That is where the power of this film lies,” he said.

While acknowledging that commercial success is often measured through numbers, Bhatt argued that audiences possess an instinct that cannot always be captured by early reviews or industry expectations.

“The marketplace has its own language, and numbers certainly matter. But audiences have a remarkable ability to identify honesty in storytelling. Sometimes they understand it long before the experts do,” he observed.

Calling Main Vaapas Aaunga a film that arrived “without noise, carrying only the fragile weight of a human heart,” Bhatt said its impact extended far beyond its narrative.

He said the response to the film demonstrated that beneath the distractions and divisions of contemporary life, people continue to crave stories rooted in shared human emotions.

“Beyond politics, success, failure and the identities we build for ourselves, there exists a common human longing. This film speaks directly to that,” he remarked.

Bhatt also recalled recognising Imtiaz Ali’s distinctive storytelling voice years ago in Highway, starring his daughter Alia Bhatt, which explored trauma, healing and emotional liberation.

Concluding his note, the filmmaker said trends and commercial formulas may change over time, but films that carry the unmistakable imprint of their creators endure.

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“Films will come and go. Trends will change. Algorithms will change. What remains are stories that bear the fingerprints of the people who created them. Main Vaapas Aaunga carries those fingerprints, and for that reason alone, it deserves to be celebrated,” he said.