Indian auteur Imtiaz Ali, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film ‘Main Vapas Aaunga’, has shared the reason behind choosing to work with the Oscar and Grammy-winning music composer A. R. Rahman.

Imtiaz, who spoke during the promotions of the film, majorly works with either Pritam or A.R. Rahman, and with both of them, he has a terrific track record.

When asked what compelled him to gravitate more towards A. R. Rahman for ‘Main Vapas Aaunga’, he told, “Well, I felt that there is a music of Punjab or the music of India of a certain era. But it is for a contemporary film. So, I had to be true to that era, but I had to be extremely relevant and entertaining for the present time. So, for this, I wanted to go with A.R. Rahman, also because I wanted to be authentic to the western music that was going on at that point of time. There was swing and dance”.

He further mentioned, “Then there were other styles of western music that were going on. And that was mixing very seamlessly with the folk music of the time. So, we tried to do that in one song, you know, so there was a lot of that kind of experiment, which is trying to read all of that music as the basis of the recreation of a certain era”.

The film marks Imtiaz and Rahman’s 5th collaboration after massive chartbuster albums of ‘Rockstar’, ‘Highway’, ‘Tamasha’ and ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’.

Produced by Sameer Nair and Deepak Segal of Applause Entertainment, along with Mohit Choudhary and Shibasish Sarkar of Window Seat Films. ‘Main Vapas Aaunga’ is set to release in cinemas on June 12, 2026.