Homebound

About the film

Homebound is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, co-written by Ghaywan and Sumit Roy, based on a New York Times article by Basharat Peer from 2020. It explores the life of childhood friends Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) while they attempt to pass the Indian Police Service exam. It also stars Janhvi Kapoor, Harshika Parmar, Shalini Vatsa and Chandan K Anand.

The film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May, where it reportedly received a 9-minute standing ovation. It was theatrically released in India on 26 September to critical acclaim. The movie turned out to be a massive box-office disaster, making less than ₹5 crore, compiled on a budget of over ₹25 crore, despite highly positive critical reviews.

Plot

Shoaib (a Indian Muslim) and Chandan (a dalit) are childhood friends from a small village in North India who dream of becoming police officers, hoping that the job will bring them the respect they never had. However, as they come closer to their goal, pressure and struggles causes friction in their friendship. Encouraged by Sudha, Chandan finds himself enrolled at college. While Shoaib struggles to support his family, following his father knee injury.

Production

The film's original story was inspired by The New York Times 2020 essay Taking Amrit Home (now retitled A Friendship, a Pandemic and a Death Beside the Highway) by Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer. It recounts the story of two young migrant workers in Surat, who were caught in the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.

During the pandemic, the story caught the eye of director Neeraj Ghaywan, after it was recommended by producer Somen Mishra at Dharma Productions. This is Ghaywan's second feature after his debut, Masaan (2015), which received widespread acclaim. Subsequently, Dharma Productions bought the rights from The New York Times and script development started, wherein the backstories of both protagonists were fictionalised, while keeping the essence of the original. French producer Mélita Toscan du Plantier brought in Martin Scorsese on board as executive producer. Scorsese also helped Ghaywan in crafting the screenplay and later during the editing process, watching three different cuts of the film. The film was shot in 2024 mainly in and around Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh state.

Produced by Dharma Productions, Martin Scorsese serves an executive producer.

Release

Homebound premiered on 21 May 2025 at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in France. It closed Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2025. The film was also selected at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival in Gala Presentation and was screened on 10 September 2025.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reportedly asked Ghaywan to make 11 modifications, thereby censoring 1 minute and 17 seconds of the film's footage. Certain words were muted and replaced at 6 places, including 'gyan'. The makers were also asked to delete the dialogue 'Aloo gobhi... khaate hai'. Further, a two-second visual of a man performing puja were censored. The Revising Committee also made changes in a dialogue in an important cricket match scene at 1 hour and 4 minutes, deleting 32 seconds from the sequence. The series of cuts asked by the country's film certification board sparked debated around, what many called CBFC's 'arbitrary and whimsical' approach to how films are certified.

In an interview with Zoom, Ishaan shared his perspective on censorship in Indian cinema."Different films are often treated with different standards. Some receive leniency despite questionable content, while others—especially social films with a particular perspective—face more scrutiny, as artists and audiences, we'd appreciate an equal and open-minded approach where every story is treated fairly."

Controversy

In December 2025, author and journalist Puja Changoiwala alleged plagiarism, saying that the producers of Homebound plagiarized her 2021 novel Homebound. She said that they "have not only misappropriated the title of my book, but have also blatantly reproduced substantial portions of my novel in the second half of the film—including its scenes, dialogue, narrative structure, sequence of events, and other creative expressions." She subsequently initiated legal proceedings.

Dharma Productions denied these claims stating: "The allegations of copyright infringement are unfounded, and Dharma categorically denies the same. A legal notice has been received and duly responded to by Dharma's legal counsel. Homebound is an officially licensed adaptation inspired by The New York Times article by Basharat Peer, with all requisite rights lawfully acquired and due credit duly provided."

Screenwriter Sumit Roy, who co-authored Homebound's screenplay said that he was neither familiar with the author who made the allegations against the film, nor with her novel, and that the claims are "unfounded." With regard to the title of the screenplay, Roy said that they "debated many titles before settling on Homebound. Roy also said that his screenplay was influenced by Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, commenting that "everything I said about Ray and how his humanism influenced Homebound remains as valuable as ever."

Key details