Last week, as I watched Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, I kept thinking about how, nearly eight decades after the Partition of India, the events of August 1947 continue to shape the political realities, cultural identities, and collective memories of both India and Pakistan. The Radcliffe Line — the thoughtless border that cut through Punjab and Bengal — did more than divide territory between two nations: it tore apart families, uprooted communities, transformed languages and cultures, and left millions with generational histories of displacement, grief, and trauma. Yet, for much of the post-Partition years, public discourse in both India and Pakistan often reduced this immense human tragedy to questions of competing religious identities and nationhood.
This narrative finally appears to be changing. In recent years, a growing body of films, books, exhibitions, museums, and creative projects has sought to revisit the Partition as a deeply personal and unresolved human experience rather than a fixed geopolitical event in the past. Films and books such as Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, Suchitra Vijayan’s ‘Midnight’s Borders’, and Aanchal Malhotra’s ‘Remnants of a Separation’ are part of a wider effort across South Asia to confront what was truly lost in 1947. Rather than seeking closure, these works examine what it means to live with inherited trauma, fractured histories, and hostile borders that continue to shape life in South Asia long after the violence itself has ended.
From Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ to Gulammohammed Sheikh’s early cityscapes at Art Basel 2026, here’s what we have for you this week:
‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, follows the story of the Grewals, a family of Punjabi refugees from Sargodha — “on the other side of the border” — and the Grewal patriarch Ishar (a brilliant Naseeruddin Shah in another stellar performance). In 1947, a young Isher had to leave behind his home in Sargodha and the world he knew when Punjab was cut in two between India and Pakistan. Now, in his deathbed, as a long, hard life takes its toll and dementia sets in, Ishar is lost in his memories and delusions of that time — the love he lost, the family he left behind, and the home he can never return to. Like Bishan Singh, the protagonist of Saadat Hasan Manto’s ‘Toba Tek Singh’, Ishar speaks in riddles — of cricket matches on the moon, martian invaders with small eyes and long tongues, and Mallika Dilfareb, the Queen of Hearts — setting his grandson Nirvair (Diljit Dosanjh) on a search for the truth hiding behind Ishar’s delirious gibberish. Arguably one of Ali’s most poignant and sociopolitically charged films till date, ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ argues that the wounds of Partition are still open and will remain so until we acknowledge the true extent of what people lost during the events of August 1947 — home, family, an entire world — with love and empathy. ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ is playing in cinemas now.
Inspired by the Sanskrit concept of ‘dhāraṇā’ or sustained concentration, Sonic Perception’s second compilation brings together 17 artists from India’s underground electronic music scene. Spanning ambient, techno, IDM, and experimental sound, the release reflects a growing culture of deep listening, sonic exploration, and collaborative world-building. Learn more here & listen to ‘DHĀRAṆĀ’ here.
From the legendary Iyengar Bakery and its signature milk bread to Thom’s festive plum cakes, Fatima Bakery’s beloved puffs, Albert Bakery’s iconic khova naan, and VB Bakery’s famous Congress Bun, these bakeries have remained local favourites for generations. With a city that is constantly embracing new food trends, these bakeries continue to offer comfort, nostalgia, and some of Bengaluru’s most iconic baked treats. Avani writes here.
At 89, Gulammohammed Sheikh occupies a singular place in Indian art history. One of the last living masters of the generation that emerged in the decades following India’s independence, he remains a vital link between the ambitions of Indian modernism and the more layered, pluralistic approaches that would later define post-modern art in India and South Asia. Sheikh has continued to expand the possibilities of narrative painting, blending mythology, literature, memory, politics, and lived experience into richly imagined visual worlds. For its presentation in the ‘Features’ section of Art Basel 2026, Vadehra Art Gallery is presenting ‘Of Cities and Tongas’, a solo exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, and paper collages from the early 1960s, offering visitors a rare glimpse into the visual idioms that would later shape one of the most influential artistic practices in modern and contemporary South Asian art. Learn more here.
This weekend, CASA BACARDÍ and Homegrown are bringing a one-of-a-kind music and culture experience to Mumbai with the CASA BACARDÍ x Homegrown Summer Beat House. Taking place on 20 and 21 June at a space below Napoli by Shatranj, just off Carter Road in Bandra, the two-day event celebrates the spirit of Homegrown Music — Homegrown’s in-house music label in collaboration with Atlantic Records. Designed as an intimate gathering for artists, music lovers, and creative communities, the Summer Beat House blends live music, conversations, workshops, cocktails, and cultural exchange under one roof.
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