'Homebound' Filmmaker On The Road To Oscar's Bringing India's Heartland To World Stage

Neeraj Ghaywan is exhausted. Ever since Homebound, his long-awaited second feature after the acclaimed Masaan (2015), was named India's official entry to the Oscars, he has been on a relentless promotional run. Critics say that if any recent film stands a chance at the coveted trophy, this is it. With Karan Johar's Dharma Productions backing it and Martin Scorsese on board as Executive Producer, Homebound has found global momentum: a Cannes premiere in the Un Certain Regard section, Best Film at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, and second runner-up at Toronto International Film Festival's (TIFF) International People's Choice Award among its many laurels.

For Ghaywan, it feels like life coming full circle. A decade ago Masaan put him on the world stage at Cannes; Homebound now seems poised to follow the same path. In the intervening years, he has emerged as one of the most important voices of cinema (he co-directed Sacred Games season 2, two episodes of the web series Made in Heaven, and a couple of well-received anthologies) with his continued focus on the marginalised and the intersectionality of caste, religion and class - themes that mainstream Bollywood generally shies away from. In an industry often accused of creative compromises, Ghaywan has cemented his place as a bold storyteller holding a mirror to uncomfortable societal realities.

Homebound was born out of a 2020 New York Times article by author-scriptwriter Basharat Peer on the lives of two migrant workers, Amrit and Mohammed Saiyub ­- a Dalit and a Muslim - as they undertake the arduous journey on foot back home to escape a crippling Covid-induced lockdown. The story itself was born from a Twitter image that showed two exhausted men on a highway, one cradling the other in his lap. A searing picture led to an incisive feature that formed the basis of a gut-wrenching film. Amrit and Saiyub become Chandan and Shoaib in Ghaywan's film but while he has fictionalised a large part of their story, the core remains the same - friendship beyond boundaries and the inherent humanity that stays alive even in a brutally divided world.

Khaleej Times spoke to Neeraj Ghaywan on the road ahead for Homebound.

Homebound has travelled from a premiere at Cannes to now being India's official Oscar entry. How do you process this kind of validation? Does it feel like a continuation of your Cannes journey that began with Masaan or something altogether new?

I never even imagined we would get to this point. When we finished the film, the primary goal was to premiere at Cannes in a competition category but now here we are! It has still not sunk in and I don't want it to sink in!

Being selected as India's official Oscars entry means a lot. Homebound is the story of the heartland, our people and the love we have for each other. It may be centred around communities but it's more about the warmth and empathy we seek. The story uses the conduit of friendship - a universal language that people across the world understand - and probably that's why it resonated with audiences at Cannes, Toronto, Melbourne and Zurich. I feel blessed and proud that an Indian film about the heartland has travelled so far.

Since Oscar campaigns are often as much about strategy as cinema, do you and Karan Johar (the producer) have a roadmap?

Right now we are focusing on the commercial release. Frankly, none of us know what to do because it has hit us only now! We were celebrating the TIFF Award when we heard the news of the Oscar entry. The reaction from the industry has been incredible as well. At the premiere, a lot of people walked up to me and said, 'Thank you for making this film'. Many of them admitted they didn't know how to face their privilege after leaving the theatres. These reactions were quite touching.

Mainstream Hindi films have often shied away from caste and sensitive topics, leaving those stories to the indie or what was earlier, the parallel cinema space. Yet Dharma Productions has backed both Dhadak 2 and Homebound , with caste at the centre. Do you see this as an exception or the start of a larger shift?

I feel there is a shift and a genuine interest in talking about marginalised communities. However, it's great for a commercial production house such as Dharma to be catering to this cinema and championing it all through. Karan Johar has been on my side every step of the way. Homebound, in a sense, is an independent-minded film made by the biggest studio in Bollywood. We have Jahnvi Kapoor, Ishan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa as the starcast. It's backed by Martin Scorsese and it went to Cannes before coming to India. We are essentially trying to bridge the gap between the indie world and corporate studios; I feel it's remarkable where we have reached.

You've spoken about weaving your lived experiences into your work. With Homebound rooted in a real, still-recent tragedy - the pandemic - was this film more personal for you than Masaan ?

It was definitely more personal to me. I can't direct something when I don't make it my own, so I often go back to my childhood while writing a film. I have grown up in a patriarchal household and masqueraded as an upper caste member for a large part of my life so the fear, insecurities and impostor syndrome I have lived with were woven into Chandan's life as well.

Aside from these experiences, the pandemic itself had an impact. During Covid I was part of a Twitter group trying to organise oxygen cylinders on the ground for people who needed it. We also had a group that booked tickets for migrants. Plus, I was taking care of my own staff. But the world around me was baking banana bread, making pizza and talking about their bar running empty while people were grappling with such harsh realities. Somewhere we need to acknowledge that there is a side living right across us whose plight we are oblivious to.

Do you believe the pandemic brought out the differences in the 'Two Indias' very strongly?

It was not my intent to bring out the starkness. I only wanted to follow the journey of these two boys. We haven't juxtaposed their lives with urban lives so there is no comparison (of the Two Indias) in the film. We tend to talk about marginalised communities as statistics, my aim was to humanise their experience. What do they want, where do they come from, what happens to their dreams, where do they eat, pray and love!?

Did you engage with the families of Amrit and Saiyub while making the film? If so, how did those interactions shape your approach?

Yes I did. I met Basharat Peer when I read the story and we met the families and Mohammed Saiyub (the surviving friend). It felt surreal. We were working towards their rehabilitation too. But Amrit's parents could barely speak; they could only cry. I saw a half-torn Ambedkar photo in their house and it broke me. I used the image in my film too. Meeting Saiyub was quite an experience as well though he's very introverted. We have fictionalised their lives a lot.

To imagine a cinematic crossover, if Deepak, your protagonist from Masaan were to meet Chandan and Shoaib from Homebound , what advice do you think he would give them?

Interesting question! I think Deepak would become friends with Shoaib and Shoaib would find his Chandan in Deepak. And they would rekindle their friendship...it will be something to look forward to!

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