Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound is more than a film; it is a deep and unfettered representation of Indian social reality. The roles of the Muslim Shoaib, played by Ishaan Khatter, and the Dalit Chandan, played by Vishal Jethwa, become a clinical evidence of quiet yet blood-chilling realism. The fragile heart of the narrative leverages around a shared dream of the two protagonists to enter the police force; the pursuit of dignity that goes beyond their socio-economic standing in a small North Indian village.
Undoubtedly, the film makes a serene impression of the two completely different friends living in a world that subsumes them under surnames before merit-a world where the two are perhaps judged because of their birth and name. But with the dreams being aborted at the hands of bureaucratic delays and hidden currents of prejudice, the journey instead becomes an uncomfortable commentary on systemic discrimination that runs deeper into the fabric of the country, something that most tend to look away from.
The outbreak of the pandemic followed by an unsteady lockdown came not just as an intervention in the narrative but a deadly trigger that catastrophically accentuates the existing fault lines of caste and religion, hurling together the almost marginalized.
The Burden of Identity and Aspiration
The film captures, in very stark terms, how social identity determines destiny. Chandan, born of a lower caste, is under constant pressure from reservation politics that include casual bigotry residual with him, to the extent that he sometimes omits his surname to avoid being placed socially. His only dream is to earn respect rather than lead a life of manual labor, a war not just for himself but for the family to which he belongs, especially his sister, Vaishali.
So is Shoaib, but as a Muslim, he has to suffer anti-minority bias in every job he tries, with the rage silently mounting behind his patient exterior. Janhvi Kapoor has a small but crucial role as Sudha-a fellow aspirant from the Dalit community-which in fact stands as testimony to the nascent but confined hope for a future through education, especially for women, in these communities.
Homebound Pandemic as a Systemic Cracker
The second half of this film encompasses the lockdown, turning it into a personal tragedy before being blown into a national tragedy. It tells of the shutting down of the textile mill where all the three characters work. This long journey home, in reality, presents most of the facets of a migrant crisis. All illusions of safety nets are stripped. The camera never romanticizes that suffering but rather captures the raw, exhausted desperation and bureaucratic apathy with which a public health crisis turned into a humanitarian disaster for the poor.
Perhaps the most shocking reminder that for most privileged people watching the lockdown on their screens, millions like Shoaib and Chandan found themselves being tested for survival; it exposed the brutal reality of a crisis that throws most people not only into chaos but also into an atmosphere of leaving the most vulnerable people to fend for themselves.
Ishaan Khatter gives a career-defining performance, alongside Vishal Jethwa proving equally capable of embodying the resilience and quiet despair of a generation that is constantly struggling for a space at the table.
A recent media graduate, Bhumi Vashisht is currently making a significant contribution as a committed content writer. She brings new ideas to the media sector and is an expert at creating strategic content and captivating tales, having working in the field from past four months.
