Homebound review: Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa shine in India's Oscars entry, a searing take on pandemic and caste

Homebound movie review: Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, it explores caste prejudice and migration through the friendship of two men.

Homebound movie review
Rating: 3.5 stars

It has taken Neeraj Ghaywan a decade to follow up Masaan (2015) with a full feature film. The obvious question: why the long wait?

Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa play the leads in Homebound.

His latest, Homebound, arrives with an unlikely backer: Karan Johar. The man who built his empire on candy-floss romances with sky-high budgets is now producing a film that stares at caste prejudice and religious discrimination. That alone makes Homebound worth paying attention to.

What is Homebound about?

The story follows Mohammed Shoaib Ali (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan Kumar (Vishal Jethwa), childhood friends from a small village in North India. Both dream of clearing the national police exam and escaping poverty. But when Chandan makes the cut and Shoaib does not, their friendship cracks. Adding another layer is Sudha Bharti (Janhvi Kapoor), who grows close to Chandan. What unfolds is less about ambition than about fate and survival.

Movie Review

Homebound

3.5/5

Drama

Childhood friends’ bond fractures after only one clears police exam, as ambition, love, and fate reshape their struggle for survival.

Director

Neeraj Ghaywan

Cast

Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor

Verdict

The film shines through heartfelt performances: Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa’s moving bond stands out, supported by Janhvi Kapoor and Shalini Vatsa.

The film is based on journalist Basharat Peer’s The New York Times article 'A Friendship, a Pandemic and a Death Beside the Highway'. Set during Covid, it draws from the haunting real image of a man cradling his unconscious friend, trying to give him water on the road home, one of countless migrants forced to walk back to their villages. That photograph led Peer to uncover a tragic story, and Homebound builds on that truth.

Shot in Madhya Pradesh, Ghaywan and cinematographer Pratik Shah capture the texture of rural India with authenticity. The first half establishes the friendship and, crucially, the caste system that still governs lives in many parts of the country. In a piercing scene, Chandan checks his exam results, only to be asked by the official which category he applied from. Vishal Jethwa’s performance here is very effective- his hesitation and lie about belonging to the general category, all of which come back to haunt the narrative in the film’s final moments.

Strong performances by all

The second half shifts gear, tense and unsettling as it chronicles the ordeal of migrants after the sudden lockdown. Ghaywan recreates those days with precision, reminding us of a section of society that did not have the luxury of staying home. By the time the film reaches its devastating climax, you may find yourself reaching for a tissue.

Performances hold the film together. Vishal Jethwa and Ishaan Khatter bring vulnerability to their roles, their chemistry as childhood friends fully convincing. Ishaan’s emotional breakdown hits hard in one scene, while Vishal’s turn in the climax lingers long after. Janhvi Kapoor delivers an earnest performance, while Shalini Vatsa, as Chandan’s mother, quietly grounds the film with grace.

Overall, Homebound is not just a film about friendship, caste, or migration. It is a reminder of humanity brought to its knees by a pandemic, and of the invisible lives that bore the heaviest weight in our country.