HOMEBOUND
(director/writer: Neeraj Ghaywan; screenwriters: Shriidhar Dubey, Sumit Roy, based on journalist Basharat Peer’s 2020 New York Times essay “Taking Amrit Home”; cinematographer: Pratik Shah; editor: Nitin Baid; music: Benedict Taylor, Naren Chandavarkar; cast: Vishal Jethwa (Chandan Kumar), Ishaan Khatter (Mohammed Shoaib Ali), Harshika Parmar (Vaishali Kumar, sister of Chandan), Shalini Vatsa (Phool Jumar, mother of Chandan), Sudipta Saxena (Shoaib’s mother), Janhyi Kapoor (Sudha), Yogendra Vikram Singh (Arjun); Runtime: 119; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Somen Mishra, Adar Poonawalla; Dharma Productions; 2025-India-in Hindi with English subtitles)
“A fine human interest film about fighting bigotry.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Neeraj Ghaywan (“Fly Away Solo”) is writer/director of this fictionalized true story that’s based on the journalist Basharat Peer’s 2020 New York Times essay “Taking Amrit Home”. Sumit Roy is co-writer. It’s India’s official Oscar entry for 2025. The film has three acts.
Mohammed Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) is a Muslim and Chandan Kumar (Vishal Jethwa) is a Dalit, a member of the “untouchable” caste. They are childhood friends from a small village in North India. They both are marginalized citizens who hope to join India’s police force and escape from their poverty. The police test draws 2.5 million applicants for only 3,500 spots, who apparently also view it as a respectable job.
The men wait for a year in the big city to get their test results because of bureacratic indifference holding up the results. While waiting for notification, Shoaib takes a menial sales job, but he’s blocked from advancing because he’s a Muslim and mocked over his religion by the Hindu workers. Meanhile Chandan meets in town a well-off girlfriend from his caste, Sudha (Janhyi Kapoor), but when he enrolls in college to advance his status that doesn’t work out. When Covid-19 hits, there’s a demoralizing mass exodus home. The final act is a tearjerker, as they both return to their families with Chandan passing and Shoaib failing the police test. But their friendship remains intact despite several testy moments.
The executive producer Martin Scorcese mentors the Indian filmmaker. It results in a poignant friendship story that turns into a fine human interest film about fighting bigotry. It has good visuals and good performances. The highly emotional melodrama, whose hot-button topic raises questions about ongoing prejudices in the country, works even outside of India because it expounds on universal truths.
It played at the Cannes Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 10/4/2025 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com