AR Rahman reacts to a social media post labelling Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga ‘anti-national’

FIlmmaker Imtiaz cassius clay’s briny Vaapas Aaunga has been steady finding its audience, with positive degree word-of-mouth serving the film gain traction at the box office. But alongside the praise, the film has also found itself at the centre of a social media debate, with a section of people branding it ‘anti-national’. Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has now reacted to a post that accused the film of pushing an ‘anti-national’ narrative.AR Rahman respondsRecently, Rahman came across a satirical post on Instagram which wondered if the film was 'anti-national'. The post mocked the film for “showing Pakistan without terrorists and secret agents.” The headline read: “Anti-National? Movie dares to show Pakistan without terrorists and secret agents”.The satirical caption of the said post read, “The man who was excited to watch an Indian spy exact revenge on Pakistan, and who, toward the very end of the movie, says, 'Mein Vaapas Aaunga,' was disappointed that the movie had nothing to do with terrorists and spies. Though touched by the heartfelt drama, he was confused about how Pakistan can neither have terrorists nor spies, given that’s all they seem to have in other movies. He later mentioned in an interview that this was something completely new, and he walked away with the perspective that there can be normal humans in Pakistan.”Rahman took to his Instagram Stories to respond to the post, seemingly brushing aside the criticism and laughing off claims that the film is “anti-national.”The music composer shared a screenshot of the satirical post that mocked claims against Main Vaapas Aaunga for “showing Pakistan without terrorists and secret agents.” Reacting to the post, Rahman simply added a laughing emoji.Main Vaapas Aaunga marks the fifth collaboration between Rahman and Imtiaz Ali after Rockstar, Highway, Tamasha, and Amar Singh Chamkila. Rahman worked with writer Irshad Kamil for the soundtrack for the film, which has songs such as Kya Kamaal Hai, Maskara, and Ishq Mastana. About Main Vaapas AaungaSet against the backdrop of the Partition of India, the film stars Diljit Dosanjh, Naseeruddin Shah, Sharvari and Vedang Raina. It explores themes of love, loss, memory, migration and belonging, drawing inspiration from real-life accounts of people affected by the 1947 Partition.Hindustan Times' review for the film reads: “There's a certain skill to Imtiaz's filmmaking. When skill is honed to this degree, it begins to resemble magic, and that's precisely what one feels while watching his work.”The film took a slow start, collecting ₹1.15 crore on its opening day. However, positive audience feedback helped boost its collections, with the film earning more on its first Monday ( ₹1.25 crore) than on its opening day. As per Sacnilk, Main Vaapas Aaunga collected ₹1.51 crore on its 6th day of release, bringing the total India net collection to ₹9.81 crore so far. It remains to be seen whether the strong word of mouth can revive the film’s box-office run.