Adnan Siddiqui shares emotional link to ancestral home in India
Actor Adnan Siddiqui has shared an emotional account of seeing his family’s ancestral home in India through a video posted online.
The actor said the footage made him cry because it connected him with a part of his family history that he had never personally experienced.
Siddiqui’s father migrated to Pakistan after the Partition of British India. His family had left their home in Pahetiya, a village in Uttar Pradesh, and built a new life in Pakistan.
Video brings back family memories
Siddiqui shared a reel on Instagram that was originally created by Indian historian Obaidurrahman Siddiqui.
The video explored the history of Pahetiya and included footage of the family’s pre-Partition home.
Seeing the old house had a powerful emotional effect on the actor. He said the images made him think about the home his ancestors had left behind many years ago.
Siddiqui also connected the experience with filmmaker Imtiaz Ali’s film Main Vaapas Aaunga, which focuses on memories, separation and the desire to return home.
He said the film deeply affected him because its themes of longing and separation reminded him of his own family’s experience.
The actor explained that the story felt personal because many families on both sides of the India-Pakistan border experienced similar losses during Partition.
‘Home is where you first became yourself’
Siddiqui said his ancestors left their home believing they might eventually return when circumstances improved.
That hope, he suggested, remained part of his family’s memories even after decades of living in Pakistan.
The actor described his reaction to the video as an emotional response to seeing “stone and wood and history” connected to his family.
He also remembered how his father referred to India as “my country” because he had grown up there.
Siddiqui said he understood that feeling more clearly after experiencing the loss of his own childhood home in Karachi.
He recalled seeing his childhood house being demolished and said he became unable to move for about an hour because so many memories were connected to the place.
For Siddiqui, these experiences changed his understanding of what makes a place a home.
He said home is not necessarily the place where someone spends most of their life. Instead, it can be the place where a person first develops their identity and memories.
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Partition memories continue across generations
Siddiqui’s comments highlight how the effects of Partition continue to influence families decades later.
Millions of people moved between what became India and Pakistan in 1947, leaving behind homes, relatives, communities and familiar surroundings.
For many families, memories of those places have been passed from parents and grandparents to younger generations.
Siddiqui’s emotional response shows how seeing an old family home can bring those memories back, even for someone who never lived there personally.
His story also reflects the complicated emotions surrounding migration, identity and belonging among families divided by history.
The actor said his father carried memories of India while he is now learning to carry Pakistan as the country where he built his own life.
Film adds another emotional connection
Siddiqui’s reaction also came after watching Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga, a film centred on the emotional consequences of Partition.
The story follows Ishar Singh Grewal, a Sikh survivor of Partition, who leaves behind the woman he loves in Sargodha during the upheaval.
Many years later, Ishar, played by Naseeruddin Shah, wants to see his hometown and his former love one last time.
His grandson Nirvair then attempts to understand and reconstruct the story of his grandfather’s past.
The film has drawn attention for focusing on the pain of separation and the memories carried by people who survived Partition.
For Siddiqui, the film’s themes became even more personal when he unexpectedly received footage of his own ancestral home.
