NEW DELHI: At a time when cinema is increasingly driven by spectacle and testosterone, Imtiaz Ali's "Main Vaapas Aaunga" pauses to listen to the "deeper movements of human heart", says filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, praising the Partition drama and its miraculous turnaround at the box office.
The film, which released to tepid response initially only to grow in numbers at the box office as word of mouth spread, features Naseeruddin Shah as a 95-year-old man sifting through his muddled memories to recall his unfulfilled love.
Vedang Raina and Sharvari play young lovers in Sargodha (now Pakistan), who are forced to part ways, while Diljit Dosanjh essays the grandson to Shah's character. Since its release on June 12, the film has grossed Rs 70.8 crore at the global box office.
In a note shared with the makers, Bhatt was effusive in his praise for the movie and the audiences who responded to its story that makes a case for love and kindness even in the worst of times.
"We live in an age where cinema is increasingly driven by velocity, spectacle and testosterone. The marketplace rewards certainty, noise and instant gratification. In such a climate, a film that pauses to listen to the deeper movements of the human spirit is almost an act of rebellion," Bhatt said.
The director said while many had dismissed the film on arrival as it refused to "conform to prevailing fashions", audiences showed the way by embracing the story.
"Cinema, at its most powerful, does not provide answers. It illuminates questions that we secretly carry within ourselves. The audience recognises those questions and, for a few hours, feels less alone. That is what this film seems to have achieved.
"...The marketplace is entitled to its verdicts. It speaks the language of numbers, and numbers matter. But audiences possess a mysterious intelligence of their own. Sometimes they recognise authenticity before the experts do," Bhatt said.
Calling "Main Vaapas Aaunga" as that rare film which arrived quietly, "carrying only the fragile cargo of a human heart", Bhatt said he was not merely moved by its story but by the thirst that runs beneath it.
"The response to this film suggests that beneath all our cynicism, beneath the noise of our times, there remains a hunger for stories that speak to something deeper than our appetites. Because beneath our politics, beneath our achievements and failures, beneath our carefully assembled identities, there runs a common current. A shared human thirst," he said.
The filmmaker, known for movies such as "Arth", "Saaransh" and "Zakhm", said he first recognised Ali's instinctual storytelling in "Highway", which revolved around a woman who finally confronts her family for staying silent on the sexual assault she faced when young. The movie featured Bhatt's daughter Alia Bhatt in the lead role.
"Films will come and go. Trends will come and go. Algorithms will come and go.
What remains are works that bear the fingerprints of the human being who made them.
Main Vaapas Aaunga bears those fingerprints. And for that reason alone, it deserves to be celebrated," he added.