Homebound: Oscar Entry Exposes Caste, Faith, and Pandemic

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**Backed by Martin Scorsese and powered by searing performances from Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa, Homebound turns a migrant crisis into India’s boldest Oscar hope since Lagaan.**

By TRH Entertainment Desk

MUMBAI, September 21, 2025 — India’s perennial Oscar heartbreak may finally find a resolution in Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound, a haunting portrayal of caste, faith, and aspiration against the backdrop of the 2020 migrant crisis. Selected as India’s official entry for the 98th Academy Awards, the film arrives not as escapism but as indictment.

Ghaywan, known for Masaan (2015), adapts Basharat Peer’s 2020 New York Times essay into a fictionalized but painfully real story of two childhood friends—Mohammed Shoaib Ali (Ishaan Khatter), a Muslim, and Chandan Kumar (Vishal Jethwa), a Dalit. Their shared dream of becoming police constables is shattered by systemic prejudice, communal faultlines, and the sudden chaos of the COVID-19 lockdown. Their unravelling friendship becomes a microcosm of a nation where dignity itself is rationed.

Backed by executive producer Martin Scorsese, Homebound premiered to a nine-minute standing ovation at Cannes 2025 (Un Certain Regard) and later earned recognition at TIFF, cementing its global credibility. Shot in Bhopal and rural Madhya Pradesh, the film radiates the “warmth of winter sun” even as it chronicles despair—rooting its story in the soil rarely seen in mainstream Hindi cinema.

The performances drive the film’s emotional heft. Khatter’s quiet rage and Jethwa’s combustible mix of hope and bitterness create a dynamic that Variety hailed as “moving and unpredictable.” Janhvi Kapoor, in a sharply brief cameo, surprises as an Ambedkarite student, even if her polished diction occasionally jars. Critics from Film Companion to ABP Live have unanimously called Homebound “India’s strongest Oscar contender in decades.”

Yet the film is not without flaws. Some sequences tip into cliché, echoing “cheesy” tropes that global audiences may forgive more readily than Indian ones. Its relentless focus on caste and faith may alienate sections of mainstream India ahead of its September 26 release. But these quibbles are outweighed by its urgency. As Firstpost wrote, Homebound “deserves an Oscar” for daring to humanize those history too often erases.

Jury chair N. Chandra captured its edge: “It’s very well researched and well executed, with exceptional performances.” Producer Karan Johar called it a “labour of love,” while co-writer Sumit Roy stressed its true test lies not in Hollywood but in India’s own living rooms.

In the end, Homebound is more than India’s Oscar 2026 hope—it is a mirror that refuses to flatter. Like the migrant roads it portrays, the film is dusty, tragic, and unrelenting, but it glows with a stubborn dignity. If India has waited nearly 70 years since Mother India came close, perhaps this is the year global cinema finally listens to the voices at its margins.

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