Main Vapaas Aaunga is a movie that stems from the realm of memory, migration, and the inner emotional scars of Partition. The script has been written by Nayanika Mahtani, and the project revolves around personal family memories, which seem to blur the thin line between life and filmmaking. Nayanika has infused her own ancestral tales into the script. For her, this movie is more than just another project; it is a way of returning to people and places through stories.
Nayanika Mahtani’s nani's Sargodha home was filled with orchards that had keenu fruits, which reportedly inspired Vedang Rain's character name in Main Vapaas Aaunga. In one of the old photographs of her in her ancestral home, a life before the partition altered everything for good. Shortly after getting married to her husband, she moved to New Delhi because he was posted there. It all started with the partition.
Her family would not move from Sargodha, choosing to stay in their own house and receive safety in numbers through the protection of their fellow Muslims, even amidst rioting. Her nani chose to stay in India, and she was permanently separated from her family of birth.
While recalling this incident, Nayanika Mahtani wrote, "Growing up, Sargodha was never just a place to me. It was a story I’d heard snatches of. Where keenus grew in orchards. Where a leg of lamb was cooked in an outdoor tandoor pit overnight. Where my Nani and her siblings went to school in a horse-carriage. I always hoped to visit, I never could."
Her paternal grandfather was an eccentric who was moulded by Punjab prior to Partition. His childhood days were spent between Rawalpindi and the summers in Murree. He was once a runner from school along with his best friend and even got tattoos inked on his body, which was quite an uncommon thing during those days. The tattoo had his friend's name, Tarlok, in Urdu.
When Nayalika Mahtani would ask her papaji about Tarlok, he would jokingly say, "Kamina hai - koi ata pata nahin uska." In Nayanika's research on Partition histories, it came to light that Tarlok died in the riots, a loss that must have been silently borne by her papaji. He attended Government College and was involved in street plays against British rule, which got him arrested.
Natyanika concluded writing, "We grew up being in his reels - in the fields, the tubewell, on the tractor - or watching his old reels in darkened rooms - the images flashing on a wall while all of us watched." She further added, "How I wish I could show Papaji the film we made too - as our tribute to his generation of quiet heroes -honouring their dignity, lack of rancour and resilience in the face of unimaginable horrors."
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