In May 2020, the newspaper image of a wiry Saiyub holding an unconscious Amrit in his lap on a scorched highway in Madhya Pradesh came across as an antidote to the raging virus. Fate has its own destiny. It was not just a melancholic picture of abiding friendship, Saiyub took Amrit home when a section of the media was projecting Muslims as super spreaders. Journalist Basharat Peer tracked the story of two friends to their village in eastern Uttar Pradesh for The New York Times.
Five years later, in Homebound, writer-director Neeraj Ghaywan takes away the exactitude of the Op-ed essay and turns it into a deeply immersive and emotionally resonant cinematic experience, that is both specific to the pandemic and universal in its tone and tenor. It talks of the caste and religious discrimination in society and, without getting didactic, shines a light on the migrant workers’ struggle during the ill-conceived lockdown.
Homebound (Hindi)
Director: Neeraj Ghaywan
Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor, Shalini Vats
Runtime: 119 minutes
Storyline: The lives of two friends desperate to rise above their social condition take a devastating turn during the lockdown.
Building on the information in Peer’s piece, Neeraj and his co-writers create the back stories of the boys before arriving on that baked highway where their dreams are crushed. In his slice of life, Saiyub and Amrit are Shoaib and Chandan, two impoverished youth desperate to lift their respective families out of poverty. Shoaib wants his ailing farmer father treated. Chandan wishes he could apply balm on the cracked heels of his construction worker mother after building a house with a cement roof for her. She could cook the mid-day meal at a government school, but the parents don’t want their children to eat the food she cooks. There is a stringent law against untouchability, but can it be implemented in the new India?
Neeraj, who emerged on the scene with Masaan (2015), once again captures the everyday experiences of subtle mistreatment, indignities, and slights that disadvantaged social groups face in society. Shoaib is reminded of his Muslimness, and Chandan’s Dalit identity is underlined on the streets, in offices, and in playgrounds. However, despite constant humiliation, both don’t give up on the idea of India..
Like millions of young, unemployed Indians, who seldom find a sincere representation in mainstream Hindi cinema, they want to join the police constabulary so that no one can tease them because of their identity. But, for the sea of hopefuls, appearing in the exam itself becomes a war, and waiting for the result becomes a punishment. Chandan makes the cut while Shoaib doesn’t, but both remain without a job.
Janhvi Kapoor, Vishwal Jethwa and Ishaan Khatter in ‘Homebound’.
| Photo Credit:
Dharma Productions/YouTube
Neeraj nurtures the story with subtle emotional realism, making us introspect about the dehumanising gaze of a section of society. Pratik Shah’s deft camera work evokes a sense of confinement, and the editing ensures that the nuanced performances by the ensemble generate a quiet intensity that deepens the impact of a familiar struggle.
Ishaan and Vishal create a believable picture of vulnerability, desperation, and survival. In his previous outings, Vishal showed a tendency to overemote, but here, as a follower of Bhimarao Ambedkar, he is quietly effective as a subdued Chandan. Ishaan is a natural, and their dynamic lingers.
While following the boys, Neeraj doesn’t lose sight of the strong women around them. Sudha Bharti (Janhvi Kapoor), a fellow traveller with Chandan, wants him to graduate and aim bigger. When Chandan complains about discrimination, his sister reminds him that she didn’t even have a choice to pursue education. His mother tells him that all she has inherited from her mother are the fissures in the heels. It is the resilience that shines through Homebound and hits home in Varun Grover and Shreedhar Dubey’s incisive words.
The film’s gaze and the matte finish sometimes give the proceedings the feel of an explainer on the fault lines in Indian society for a global audience. Towards the end, it appears that the complexity of Peer’s perspective has been papered over, perhaps to avoid censorship. For instance, the fact that Shoaib’s struggle with the arbitrariness of the lockdown continued even after the health department officials discovered them on the road has been glossed over.
Still, Homebound is a significant document of our times when social trust seems to be in a long-term decline and is a worthy bet for the elusive Oscar.
Homebound hits the theatres on January 26, 2025
