Jun 22, 2026 17:51 pm IST

Opinion | Main Vaapas Aaunga Will Be Called A Masterpiece One Day, And It Should Be Today

I don't want to revisit Main Vaapas Aaunga in 2035 and announce that it was misunderstood. I would rather acknowledge what it is right now. A masterpiece.

Written by Hardika Gupta Written by Hardika Gupta Senior Sub Editor, Entertainment And Lifestyle

Hardika Gupta Senior Sub Editor, Entertainment And Lifestyle

A strange thing happened when the credits rolled on Main Vaapas Aaunga.

Nobody got up immediately.

The lights had come on. The cleaning staff had already begun hovering around the exits. The film was over. Yet people remained seated, staring at the screen as if they had forgotten where they were supposed to go next.

An elderly couple in the row ahead of me sat quietly without saying a word to each other. A man near the aisle wiped his eyes and quickly looked away when someone noticed. A woman behind me kept repeating, "What a film," to nobody in particular. 

And for a few moments, the theatre felt less like a public space and more like a room full of people collectively recovering from a memory that wasn't entirely theirs.

I cried through large portions of Main Vaapas Aaunga. Not because Imtiaz Ali was trying to manipulate me into tears. Not because the film relies on emotional shortcuts. Quite the opposite. The tears arrived because the film quietly reached places I had forgotten existed.

It reminded me of grandparents who still speak about homes they can never return to. It reminded me of people who carried love stories for decades without ever telling them aloud. It reminded me that some losses don't leave bruises. They become part of your bloodstream.

And perhaps that is what Imtiaz Ali understands better than most filmmakers working today.

He doesn't make films about heartbreak. He makes films about what remains after heartbreak.

And Main Vaapas Aaunga may very well be the finest expression of that idea.

Please Stop Calling Imtiaz Ali Movies A Masterpiece Ten Years Later

Within hours of the film's release, social media was flooded with familiar jokes. "Watch this now, otherwise you'll call it a masterpiece in 2036." "Don't ignore another Imtiaz Ali film and rediscover it a decade later."

View this post on InstagramA post shared by filmysabby (@relatiyapa)

A post shared by filmysabby (@relatiyapa)

Imtiaz Aliby u/KryTEx3 in bollywoodmemes

The memes were funny because they were painfully accurate.

This cycle has become so predictable that it almost feels like an unofficial release strategy.

Rockstar divided audiences in 2011 before becoming one of the most beloved Hindi films of its generation. Tamasha underperformed commercially before evolving into an entire personality type for millennials and Gen Z.

Laila Majnu disappeared from theatres only to find a second life years later through streaming platforms, edits, reels, and word-of-mouth. Even Love Aaj Kal, despite all the criticism it received upon release, has slowly found viewers willing to revisit and reassess it.

For years, we have treated Imtiaz Ali's films like letters that arrived too early. Then time passes.

We grow older. Life happens. Heartbreak happens. Loss happens. And suddenly the films make sense.

The irony is that audiences often become the very people his films were talking about all along.

Which is why I refuse to participate in the ritual this time.

I don't want to revisit Main Vaapas Aaunga in 2035 and announce that it was misunderstood. I would rather acknowledge what it is right now.

The Art Of Breaking Hearts And Fixing Them

Nobody in mainstream Hindi cinema understands emotional devastation quite like Imtiaz........

© NDTV