Homebound Movie Review — Sucharita At Cannes 2025
There are some films that, instantly, on the very first showing, become bigger than themselves — larger than the technical aspects that came together to make them, louder than the sound of applause surrounding them.
Regardless of what one might feel about this Cannes premiere, which we’re getting into now, Homebound is essential viewing.
Returning to the same stage — the Debussy Theatre on the Croisette — a visibly emotional Neeraj Ghaywan introduced the film with an appeal for world peace and harmony.
With that thought, I steadied myself for what I knew was going to be an emotional ride, knowing the source material that inspired the film. Published in 2020, a long piece by author Basharat Peer narrated the story of two daily wage workers from UP, who attempted an arduous journey back from Surat to their UP village 1,700 kilometers away, when the nation went into lockdown without notice, without preparation, nary a thought for the wellbeing of millions of daily wage workers, left without a means to sustain. To stop the spread of the virus, state borders were closed, all public transport was haphazardly stopped, Muslims were targeted as super spreaders, thanks to unrelenting misinformation campaigns carried out by the mainstream media.
Amid this anarchy, Neeraj digs deeper. Before the people in the New York Times article became the subject of international news because of their misfortune and a viral photo, who were they? What were their hopes and dreams? Who were their friends? Whom did they love?
Running to catch a train to a city where they’ll be able to sit for competitive exams to join the police force, Chandan Kumar and bestie Shoaib Ali meet Sudha Bharati, also waiting amid the crowds. Chandan, being a Dalit man, takes a beat before sharing his last name, fearing instant casteist rejection. However, he soon learns Sudha Bharati is an Ambedkarite too, and at ease they instantly become friends. A train arrives, and everyone runs across the tracks dangerously to pile in. Chandan remarks, “Pariksha dene jaa rahe hain ya jung ladne?”
What follows is both an exam of Chandan and Shoaib’s resilience, and a war waged by everything more powerful than them, holding them back every step of the way. A year passes after the exam, and while no results are announced, Sudha and Chandan start a college course, while Shoaib, refusing the offer of becoming a labourer in Dubai fearing exploitation, has started work as a peon at a water filter company’s office. Both boys are secretly treating their current choices only as a temporary solution to fill time; the aim is still that coveted constable uniform — jisey pehenkar, Shoaib says, class aur caste disappear ho jaate hain.
Neeraj Ghaywan, co-writer Sumit Roy, and dialogue writers Varun Grover and Shriidhar Dubey then proceed to paint a picture of two very able, intelligent, fit and promising young men, whom upward mobility constantly evades. Circumstances continually out of their control keep pulling them back to the starting line anytime they dare to sprint or even step toward a goal. You want a promotion at your job? Go get a degree. Want your father to receive a life-saving operation? Go get a job. Want to be included in social settings? Declare your family’s legal status. Want to be considered part of the community? Keep a distance, don’t touch my food, and stay where your kind is “supposed to.”
For a non-Indian viewer unfamiliar with the outlawed yet widely practiced caste system, shielded by algorithms that curate news away from stories such as the deadly daily wage worker exodus during the pandemic, and whose understanding of Hindi cinema is shaped by what has been produced by Dharma in the past, “Homebound” might come across as a series of revelations about a country primarily known in international cinema circles for song and dance.
Neeraj’s focus is on the nation, its youth, and the choices they have, or rather, lack. In a country where people of a certain caste and religion are made to feel ashamed of their very existence, it’s a miracle that more youth don’t rise up in rebellion daily.This is why I said at the beginning of this review: Homebound is bigger than the biggest screen it may be projected upon in the coming months. Produced by Dharma, now co-owned by Adar Poonawalla of the Serum Institute, a man critically important and centre stage during India’s attempts to curb the Corona virus, Homebound is a deeply humane look at the personal price people pay for arbitrarily made decisions, and the many social ladders that keep shifting like the enchanted staircases in Hogwarts, leaving people stranded, without a magic wand to rescue them.
It’s also designed to make the viewer look inward and question their own culpability. Sure, you may feel superior in the knowledge that YOU don’t discriminate based on religion, caste, or gender, but your small gestures of solidarity don’t mean much if you refuse to step aside and lend your platform to someone who actually needs to have their voice heard. A slightly more senior employee at Shoaib’s office hurriedly wants to help him get a sales job, one Shoaib isn’t qualified for, only for the plan to fall apart like a house of cards. Mere intentions scarcely bring about real change.
Vishal Jethwa is particularly fantastic as Chandan, a man bright enough to jobs, a girlfriend, fit as a fiddle, with ambition in his veins, refusing to accept defeat. His light-coloured eyes sparkle with mischief, hope, and pain all at once. Chandan life is complex, he knows his sister wasn’t sent to school because the family could only afford one child’s education. He sees his parents wither away under the piles of bricks they carry on their heads at their jobs. The knowledge of that sacrifice lies heavy on his shoulders, and yet it doesn’t weigh him down or stop him from dreaming, and encouraging Shoaib to fly alongside him.
Ishan Khatter as Shoaib is stellar as a Muslim man reminded with every cricket match that cheering for India’s victory will never be enough. The jibes about his “allegiance to Pakistan” may never stop, and yet he tries his hardest to make something of himself in scenarios where anyone else might give up and fall in line with the status quo. Are his rippling muscles perhaps a shade distracting, pulling you away from the characters, yes maybe. But they also serve as a reminder that this man is able to be more than the poor, Indian jobless boy stereotype most cinema serves up. Also, refreshingly, Shoaib doesn’t vie for the girl, happy to let his friend receive the female attention.
Janhvi Kapoor, as Sudha, appears in very few scenes but sure leaves a mark, as a woman who embodies Ambedkarite principles and wants success not just for herself as a woman, but also for those around her.
There is a LOT to latch on to in Homebound to make the journey with its characters. A huge part of that credit goes to cinematographer Pratik Shah, who captures the aridity visible in the landscapes and on people’s faces with exact precision. The image seared in my memory from this film, is a top shot of a narrow highway lit by three street lamps. Daily wage workers walk in the darkness of night, bathed in the yellow fluorescence of the bulbs. From a height, as if a passive god is looking down on them, these people look like ants crawling on a log, the status they were relegated to, forsaken and forgotten.
Like Anubhav Sinha’s Bheed from a few years ago, Homebound too wants to grab you by the collar, and ensure you don’t forget the tragedy of the exodus, the likes of which weren’t seen anywhere else in the world. Unlike Bheed, though, the film doesn’t want to be an active call to action, deliberately staying a few steps away from calling out the people responsible. Rather, it took me back to Vaishali Naik’s incredible short from 2021, 7 Star Dinosaur Entertainment, about two men who have to leave the city for their village on foot because of the lockdown, unsure of what to do with the dinosaur costumes they wear every day as entertainers.
Stories about the toll of the pandemic are going to be around for a long time in cinema. Humanity has barely recovered from the wounds inflicted upon us by the disease and by systemic apathy. Ari Aster’s Eddington is also set during the same time, we’ll talk about that film shortly. And even if films aren’t directly set in or talking about the pandemic, distance from family and loved ones is clearly on many filmmakers’ minds right now. Another film, Homebound almost feels like a companion piece to, is the Nigerian My Father’s Shadow by debut filmmaker Akinola DAVIES Jr., also competing at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard category right now. A story of a man who has to leave his village to provide for his family, travelling slowly because mobility, both physical and upward, eludes him. He has to push through systems, occasionally with brute force.
I know this review became much longer than my usual pieces, and I still feel I might have more to say. Homebound isn’t a perfect movie, barely any movies are. It is, however, essential. And I’m hoping it’s available to watch soon.
