Homebound - Earnest, Well Made but Overstuffed

Homebound

Hindi - Drama
120 min
Netflix

Homebound, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, is a very competent film, backed by two excellent performances from young actors, as it attempts to portray one of the many realities of inequality that prevail in our country.

Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) are two close friends from a small village in north India, deliberately left unnamed. In the grim opening montage, they are among thousands sitting on a railway platform, waiting for a train that will take them to a police recruitment examination for a constable’s post. 

Their dream is to wear the khaki, which would enable Shoaib to fund the knee surgery his father desperately needs, and allow Chandan to help his family finally build their own brick home. How their identities and social circumstances interfere with this journey is what the film is about.

The film wants to explore multiple themes, quite frankly throwing the kitchen sink at everything possible within its two-hour runtime. At times, it feels as though this is the last film Ghaywan might ever make, and he wants to use the duration as a montage on religion, caste inequality, gender inequality, social status, with the pandemic serving as a backdrop as well. The only thing seemingly left out is LGBTQ representation. There are no individual scenes that truly stand out or linger in memory, no dialogue that you will mull over, unlike the tragic melancholy of Masaan. That is where my disappointment lies.

Ishaan Khatter, when used well, has the potential to become an even better actor than his more famous sibling. He has a naturally charming screen presence, excellent body language, and strong emotional instincts.

Vishal Jethwa, meanwhile, continues to be an intriguing performer. He first impressed as a young Akbar in the television series Maharana Pratap, followed by one of the most riveting big-screen debuts in recent years as the antagonist opposite Rani Mukerji in Mardaani 2. Here, he is far more mellow, showing vulnerability and tenderness with restraint. It will be interesting to see what choices he makes in the years to come.

One also gets to see Janhvi Kapoor deglamourised, turning in a fairly decent performance in the limited scenes she is given.

As I write this, Homebound is among the shortlisted films for Best International Feature consideration at the Oscars. Backed by Martin Scorsese and shaped with an unmistakably award-conscious sensibility, it likely stands a good chance of securing a nomination.

Film, like any other form of media, is a vehicle for a filmmaker to express what they have experienced and internalised while growing up. Scorsese has often spoken about how many sequences in his early films were drawn directly from situations he lived through. Similarly, P. A. Ranjith, a Tamil filmmaker who emerged from the social strata he frequently depicts, uses cinema to strongly foreground those realities.

It is entirely fair for a filmmaker to use the medium to convey a larger message to a global audience. However, there is a thin line between expression and repetition. Personally, I would hesitate to be defined solely by recurring themes becoming a predictable template. Hopefully, we will see Neeraj Ghaywan, or Ranjith, attempt something entirely different, perhaps a romantic comedy or a thriller.

In the end, Homebound is a well-intentioned film, elevated by strong acting and sincere craft. Yet, in its eagerness to address every possible social fault line, it rarely allows any single idea or emotion the space to fully settle. The result is a film that is admirable in effort but short on impact.