‘Homebound’ weaves ideas of the marginalised with the pandemic

Starring Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor, the film’s origins stem from an article by writer Basharat Peer, published in The New York Times in July 2020

Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’, the only Indian feature film to debut at the Cannes Film Festival this year where it received a rousing ovation on Wednesday, is an amalgam of two contemporary themes – the story of marginalised sections in modern India, enhanced as it is set during the time of Covid-19.

TOPSHOT - (From L) Indian producer Karan Johar, Indian actress Janhvi Kapoor, Indian director and writer Neeraj Ghaywan, Indian actor Vishal Jethwa and Indian actor Ishaan Khatter pose during a photocall for the film "Homebound" at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP) (AFP)

Starring Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor, the film’s origins stem from an article by writer Basharat Peer, published in The New York Times in July 2020.

Peer was inspired by a photograph of a young man holding another man in his lap, published in a newspaper during the height of the pandemic. Peer’s investigations revealed that the man in the picture was Mohammad Saiyub holding his dear friend Amrit Kumar, who had collapsed during their long walk home, from Surat to UP, when lockdown was announced in the country.

Somen Mishra, the film’s producer and head of creative development, Dharma Productions, read Peer’s story and pitched the idea to Karan Johar and filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan. “Everyone loved the story, and we set about buying the rights from The New York Times, which took almost a year,” said Mishra. “It took us two years – from 2021 to 2023 – to develop the script, dialogues and fix the cast. The film was shot in 2024.”

Peer acted as a consultant during the script’s development phase. He was supposed to co-write the script with Ghaywan, but when that did not materialise, he chose to travel with him to various locations and small villages to arrive at a comprehensive vision of how the story and setting should develop.

Peer’s story was rich in intersectionality, in its delineation of the bond between two friends – a Muslim and a Dalit. The screenplay’s beauty lies in the manner in which this is developed alongside their individual family backgrounds, culminating in the climax of the death of one of them, which was the essence of Peer’s story. The hometown of the two young men in the film is unspecified though their journey starts from Surat.

American filmmaker Martin Scorsese stepped into the project after Melita Toscan du Plantier, one of the film’s co-producers, showed him Ghaywan’s debut film, ‘Masaan’ (2015). On deciding to participate in the project, “he gave feedback via email and through Zoom calls; suggested changes and even made contributions after watching the rough cut,” said Ghaywan.

Few filmmakers make socially engaging films and incorporate identity politics like Neeraj Ghaywan. Although he has an engineering degree and an MBA, his imagination is stoked by the humanities, as is evident by his body of work after ‘Masaan’ – short films such as ‘Juice’ which talks about patriarchy and gender, or ‘Geeli Puchi’, an anthology story on caste and gender. With ‘Homebound’, the filmmaker reiterates his deep concern for marginalized individuals, lamenting the lack of attention paid to social justice in present time.

“I don’t want to point fingers and say someone is evil. People are just victims of circumstances but a little bit of empathy in the world goes a long way,” said Ghaywan.

Neeraj’s script therefore meshes with his own observations along with Peer’s journalistic piece. The emotional climax stays true to Peer’s narrative. When the lights came up at the Théâtre Debussy after the premiere, many audience members were in tears, a testament to the film’s emotional impact. Truth still remains stranger than fiction.