Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali says his upcoming feature Main Vapas Aaunga marks a more complete creative collaboration between singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh, composer A. R. Rahman and lyricist Irshad Kamil, particularly on the song Kya Kamaal Hai, unlike their previous project Amar Singh Chamkila.
In an interview with PTI, Imtiaz explained that despite working together on Amar Singh Chamkila, the team did not collaborate on a song in the truest sense.
“In Chamkila, we had this very ironic dilemma. While Diljit is working in a film so closely with A. R. Rahman and while he is playing a singer, it is a musical, but he is not singing any of Rahman’s songs. So, in a way, in a pure manner, he is not collaborating with A. R. Rahman. They are not making a song together. And we could not really come out of that checkmate because Diljit's voice was the voice of Chamkila,” he said.
“So, we could not compromise to the situation that there is a song which has Chamkila's voice in it because all the songs are kind of from the author's point of view, from the film's point of view. And there is a separate set of songs that Chamkila is singing and those are sung by Diljit. But they are not Rahman compositions.”
Highlighting the difference this time, Imtiaz said the new film finally brings the quartet together on a single track.
“So, we did that whole one film. And we did not actually have a chance to do what we now have a chance of doing, which is in Main Vapas Aunga, there is a song finally, which we are doing together with Diljit, combined with A. R. Rahman, with Irshad. And we produce a song which is Kya Kamal Hai. People have liked what they have heard (in the teaser). I think they've heard a minute and a half, a little bit of the song. But we are soon going to do the entire song and release it,” he said.
Main Vapas Aaunga stars Dosanjh, Vedang Raina, Sharvari Wagh and veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah.
Set against the backdrop of the Partition of India, the film follows a young man (Raina), who falls in love with a woman, portrayed by Sharvari, in the pre-Partition era. The narrative unfolds across two timelines, with Shah essaying the older version of the character and Dosanjh playing his grandson.
The film is scheduled to release on June 12. It is produced by Sameer Nair and Deepak Segal of Applause Entertainment, along with Mohit Choudhary and Shibasish Sarkar of Window Seat Films.
