‘Homebound’ wraps harsh truths of our times in a moving tale of friendship

Homebound draws its inspiration from journalist Basharat Peer’s news feature, ‘Taking Amrit Home’ published in The New York Times on July 31, 2020. The article was about two Indian workers who were childhood friends — Mohammad Saiyub, a 22-year-old Muslim, and Amrit Kumar, a 24-year-old Dalit — who became part of the mass migration of millions during the Covid lockdown. Peer reconstructed their ordeal after being moved by a photograph of Saiyub seated by a highway, holding Amrit in his lap after he had collapsed from heatstroke.

While Ghaywan’s film fictionalised their story and gave it a cinematic form, the movie preserves its emotional core. He also made sure the script remained truthful to their world and everyday struggles. It is noteworthy that Karan Johar-led Dharma Productions, usually associated with romantic sagas and larger-than-life spectacles, chose to conceive such a project notwithstanding the prevailing political climate. Now, by picking Homebound as India’s Oscar entry, the Film Federation of India too has extended its support to a film that folds biting social commentary into its haunting tale.

The film displays remarkable cinematic control over its narrative — balancing compelling performances, an engaging script, nuanced dialogues, and striking visuals. Ghaywan seems to deliberately sidestep anger or activism. Even when Chandan and Shoaib face the harshest treatment because of their caste and religion, respectively, Ghaywan refrains from underlining the obvious. Instead, by allowing the characters to breathe, cope with their setbacks and gradually chart their journeys, the film makes a deeper emotional impact. This convinces the audience that the narrative has emerged from lived experience.

Even in its darkest moments, Homebound offers a balm. The film contains sequences of crushing heartbreak, yet it allows hope to permeate the narrative, creating space for empathy. Ghaywan believes in finding “beauty” in such acts and moments of empathy. It is evident that the director-writer, who worked on the script for over three years, is keen to share that “beauty” with his audience. This sensibility was also evident in his debut feature, Masaan (2015), where a young engineer from a lower caste grapples with heartbreak, and a young woman endures humiliation and blackmail while coping with guilt. In Masaan, both characters ultimately learn to move forward and invest in their futures, with the open-ended narrative leaving room for multiple possibilities.

In the past, only three of India’s submissions — Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988), and Lagaan (2001) — have secured nominations for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. This remains a fiercely competitive category, with global entries such as Brazil’s The Secret Agent, France’s It Was Just an Accident, Hungary’s Orphan, Palestine’s Palestine36, Norway’s Sentimental Value, Poland’s Franz, Spain’s Sirāt, and Tunisia’s The Voice of Hind Rajab already enjoying international acclaim and appreciation.

Released in India on September 26, Homebound brings to the audience a story that is rooted deeply in reality and told with rare honesty. The true triumph of the film will lie in its ability to make viewers reflect and question, marking its victory even before it embarks on its Oscar journey.

alaka.sahani@expressindia.com