Director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound, starring Ishaan Khatter, Janhvi Kapoor and Vishal Jethwa, started its international journey with the Cannes Film Festival this year. Recently, it made its way to the Toronto International Film Festival and won the second-runner up prize in the popular film category too. Ecstatic about the win, Vishal Jethwa tells us, “The film is not only getting acknowledged, but also rewarded for all the efforts we have all put in. First we were honoured in Melbourne (at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne) and now here, so getting an award over and above the recognition, it’s like sone pe suhaga.”
Getting appreciated in Cannes, Melbourne and now Canada, Vishal insists it feels “surreal”. He shares, “We got a nine-minute standing ovation at Cannes, but we didn’t know if we’ll get the same response everywhere. We were all hoping for the best though, and the experience at TIFF was something else completely. Everyone had a different perspective with which they saw the film, and it was once in a lifetime experience.”
Ask him about the reception of the film at TIFF, he shares, “We got a standing ovation here too. People applauded us, they were getting emotional, but at the same time, they were also very enthusiastic and energetic. The crowd was so different here as there were more people here who knew us and our work from before. It was a foreign land, but it felt as if we were watching our film with our people.”
Homebound is now gearing up for its Indian release too later this month, and Vishal says it’s the team’s ultimate dream. “I had been waiting for this day for a long time. We have all been nervous about September 26, but my confidence has increased a lot. Even after Cannes, I got calls from some of the biggest Indian critics, and the way they spoke to me, it made it clear that people in India are excited to watch the film. Everyone would ask me when the film is releasing here, and as soon as the release date was announced, everyone hyped it on social media,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}Homebound is now gearing up for its Indian release too later this month, and Vishal says it’s the team’s ultimate dream. “I had been waiting for this day for a long time. We have all been nervous about September 26, but my confidence has increased a lot. Even after Cannes, I got calls from some of the biggest Indian critics, and the way they spoke to me, it made it clear that people in India are excited to watch the film. Everyone would ask me when the film is releasing here, and as soon as the release date was announced, everyone hyped it on social media,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}Vishal admits that with this film, he is getting to live his globetrotting dream too. “I have been working for so many years, but I never got to go out of the country. But with this film, I have gone across five countries within a year. Since the day this film has come into my life, it has brought so much luck for me,” he ends.