Star Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor
Director: Neeraj Ghaywan
Homebound Movie Review Synopsis: HOMEBOUND is the story of two friends. Mohammed Shoaib Ali (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan Kumar (Vishal Jethwa) reside in a small town in India. The former belongs to the minority community, while the latter is of a backward caste. They have faced discrimination all their life, and they decide to take the police recruitment exam. They feel that once they become police constables, society will respect them more and they’ll also have better earnings. With this idea, they attempt the exam. While on the way to the centre, they meet Sudha Bharti (Janhvi Kapoor), who’s also from a lower caste. Sparks fly between Chandan and Sudha and soon they begin a relationship. Meanwhile, the result of the police recruitment is delayed by more than a year due to a certain issue. Shoaib and Chandan are helpless and decide to do something in their lives rather than waiting forever for the result. While Shoaib takes up the job of a peon in a sales company, Chandan enrolls in a college to complete his graduation. One day, the police recruitment result finally arrives and their lives change, for better and for worse. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Homebound Movie Story Review: HOMEBOUND is based on the article 'Taking Amrit Home' written by Basharat Peer and published in The New York Times. Basharat Peer, Neeraj Ghaywan and Sumit Roy's story, inspired by real-life events, is impactful. Neeraj Ghaywan's screenplay is extremely captivating and straight out of life. Neeraj Ghaywan, Varun Dubey and Shreedhar Dubey's dialogues are conversational yet sharp.
Neeraj Ghaywan's direction is terrific. This is a film which is in a far more realistic zone than MASAAN [2015] in terms of treatment, minimal use of background score, etc. Often, filmmakers end up making films that are too niche or don't appeal to the vast majority of the audience while depicting stark reality. Neeraj doesn’t take that route. The film strikes a fine balance where the events are depicted in a truthful and non-commercial manner and at the same time, it doesn’t get boring or abstract. The characters are quite relatable and so are their struggles. Neeraj also shows his brilliance in the dramatic and emotional scenes. The scenes at the pond are great, but two scenes that stand out are Shoaib being humiliated in the farmhouse while Chandan being discriminated against for his caste in the government office. Neeraj reserves the best for the third act. It is the best part of the film and extremely moving. The final scene is apt.
On the flipside, one gets a feeling in the first 30-35 minutes that a certain sequence has been chucked out of the final cut. One can sense when one realizes that Chandan and Sudha are dating. Moreover, the trailer consists of certain scenes, of the trio roaming around and making merry. These scenes are not a part of the film. Ideally, when a trailer has been released so close to the release, it is not fair to incorporate scenes that are not present in the final version. It amounts to misleading the audience, albeit to a small extent. Secondly, there’s no denying that discrimination exists in our society, but in some scenes, it doesn’t seem convincing. Lastly, despite an engaging narrative, HOMEBOUND is still a film for a niche audience. This can affect its box office outcome.
Homebound – Official Trailer | Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor | Neeraj Ghaywan
Homebound Movie Review Performances: Ishaan Khatter has had a great body of work in a short span of time and HOMEBOUND easily ranks as his best performance to date. He has slipped into the part flawlessly and the scene where he cries, once at the Surat rooftop and the other in the climax, elevates these two key sequences to another level. Vishal Jethwa, too, puts up a terrific act; watch out for how he manages to express a lot through his expressions. Janhvi Kapoor delivers a worthy performance. However, her screen time is limited. Harshika Parmar (Vaishali; Chandan's sister) is a great find and leaves a huge mark. The same goes for Shalini Vatsa (Phool; Chandan's mother). Vijay Vikram Singh (Shoaib's top boss), Yogendra Vikram Singh (employee with a communal mindset), Shreedhar Dubey (Shoaib's immediate and kind-hearted boss) and Pankaj Dubey (Shoaib's father Hassan Ali) also do very well. Chandan K Anand (Haroon Nawaz; cop) is fair but doesn’t have much to do.
Homebound movie music and other technical aspects: Naren Chandavarkar and Benedict Taylor's background mucis is minimal and effective. Pratik Shah's cinematography is marvelous. The bird's-eye view shots, especially, are breathtaking. Khyatee Kanchan's production design and Rohit Chaturvedi's costumes are very real. Nitin Baid's editing is smooth.
Homebound Movie Review Conclusion: On the whole, HOMEBOUND is an unflinching portrait of caste, class, and systemic discrimination, told with sensitivity and cinematic restraint. Neeraj Ghaywan crafts a film that resonates long after it ends, thanks to its haunting final act and emotionally charged performances by Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa. The Oscar buzz has amplified the film’s hype; however, given its niche nature, it will rely heavily on strong word of mouth to make a mark at the box office.
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