My Musings

#Netflix

Language – Hindi

Year of release – 2025

Cast – Ishaan Khatter as Mohammed Shoaib Ali, Vishal Jethwa as Chandan Kumar, Janhvi Kapoor as Sudha Bharti, Harshika Parmar as Vaishali, Chandan’s sister, Shalini Vatsa as Phool, Chandan’s mother, Pankaj Dubey as Hassan Ali, Shoaib’s father, Dadhi R Pandey as Awdesh Kumar, Chandan’s father, Sudipta Saxena as Shoaib’s mother 

Trigger warning – discrimination, human desperation, COVID related human crisis

Plot – Chandan Kumar and Shoaib Ali are close childhood friends who aspire to join the police force. They struggle through the examination process only to realise that Chandan gets selected and must give his physical test to get to the next level. Shoaib doesn’t make it to the police selection and ends up taking up a job as a peon at a water purifier company. He is smart and manages to create an identity of his own when he faces severe hostility for his religion, forcing him to resign. Chandan, in the meantime, out of desperation applies for a job at a factory in Surat and starts to manage to earn a living. Shoaib joins Chandan at Surat and starts to work there till COVID strikes and everything around them starts to fall apart. Out of desperation, they are forced, like millions like them, to head back home on foot.

Do they make it back? What becomes of their lives after this? Watch the movie to experience the human spirit through it all!

To begin with, I was unsure as to where to begin to share my thoughts. Neeraj Ghaywan as the director has packed sp many aspects in this movie that it feels like I must not miss any detail or aspect in my enthusiasm to tell the story. At the same time, I don’t want to spoil anything for the viewers by over sharing my thoughts/ feelings/ opinions. There was so much to unpack that I thought maybe if I make bullet points I can cover as much as I could and the viewers can then add their thoughts too. So here goes.

Homebound manages to capture all these aspects in the one hour 50 minutes movie:

• The desperation of small town youngsters who, each year, scramble against all odds and apply in a few crore numbers to a few thousand government jobs that open up every year. Government jobs, even today, are coveted by people in small towns and villages. It ensures a certain dignity and respect among their communities that they may never be able to earn given the caste and religious dynamics that plays out in the country. The scene on the railway station platform of thousands of aspirants cramming in that space, studying and stressing over the preparations for the exams brings to the foreground the struggle of crores of Indian youth struggling to get gainful employment. In the same scene, you see the boys rushing to the other side of the station by crossing the tracks risking life and limb to fight their way in to the train. Desperation, fight for survival and the determination to overcome all odds hit you so starkly!
• Delays in recruitments, which happens all the time and which, for many of us doesn’t even register as a news piece, becomes such an important point of decision making for Chandan! His desperation, his frustration and his shame while telling his name is brought out so beautifully in that one scene when Chandan goes to the government employment services centre. So much is said without saying much!
• Lack of opportunities in smaller towns and villages. This is a point that’s driven home time and again from the various references and conversations that happen between the characters. Again, a lot is said without actually saying it in so many words.
• Acute poverty – this aspect is depicted so well in the movie without making it obvious. It’s absolutely unmissable but its depiction in the tile falling off the roof, the cracks in the feet, the living conditions of the characters and the overall hopelessness in the characters.
• One aspect that struck me strongly was the reference of Shoaib getting a chance to go to Dubai to earn his living and his choosing to stay back for the sake of his family, his friends and the country that nurtures him! His patriotism overrode his livelihood choices and yet this very patriotism was questioned in another scene of the movie which is a reality for so many even after so many years of our Independence and the gap seems to only widen more with each passing year.
• The caste and religion divide is brought out in such a natural manner. Everyday instances of how caste or religion is brought up in casual conversations that further perpetrates into discrimination that persist in today’s context too.
• Homebound brought to us male friendships that are sensitive, enduring, resilient and above all, absolutely honest. Here are two men who fight, share and bond over their desperations, their achievements and their drive to secure a better future for their families.
• In a recent movie they highlighted how language as a means of communication and education are so biased towards the privileged few and here too this detail was captured so beautifully in Chandans attempt at college education where the mode of education was English and he wasn’t fluent in that language. Another key point that kept leaping up was the need for education to break from the caste and religion barriers. Sudha’s aspiration to complete a degree and then a post graduation and maybe even a PhD and her philosophy of education as a necessity to be able to break from their current state of oppression. Here again you see a contrast with Sudha’s parents encouraging their daughters to study while Chandan’s family chooses to educate the boy over their daughter. The daughter is forced to drop out of school so she can start earning while in their dire circumstances, the parents choose to let Chandan pursue his education and his aspirations of being in the police force.
• The subject of migration for job opportunities to far away parts of the country is a reality everywhere. No matter what social group you belong to, today every one is migrating from their hometowns to far off cities and in some cases to other countries too. The separation from family, the economic need surpassing every other emotion and the triumph of actually being able to change their circumstances is brought out so beautifully by both the actors!
• Through the movie you notice the strong thread of human resilience against all odds. The fighting human spirit that, no matter what, chooses to fight and keep fighting to keep their next step forward. At every turn, there are so many unforeseen hurdles and constant reminders of how they don’t belong to certain circles and yet there is a dream and a fight to prove to themselves that they are worth it!
• Above all of this, you see a sturdy thread of humanity running through the movie. At every turn for every hurdle the characters faced, there was a human who heard them, empathised with them and helped them through their challenges. And that one thread kept me in tears. I believed with every cell in my body that there is hope. There is compassion in the otherwise cold world and there are humans who silently share their limited jugs of resources with those who don’t have any.

Ishan Khattar and Vishal Jethwa stole the movie! Their acting was absolutely flawless and real. They made you laugh, cry and sigh through the movie and hold your attention fully. From the subtle changes in their body language to the more visible emotions, they nailed it and how! Jhanvi Kapoor, for a change was subtle, incisive and owned her character fully. She is an actor who showed a lot of potential here but I was so disappointed with her role in Sunny Sansakari Ki Tulsi Kumari! More on that later!

For now, please go watch Homebound for a brief insight into the human crisis that COVID turned out to be for our country! And do watch it for the sheer brilliance of the storytelling by Neeraj Ghaywan!

An absolute 10/10 movie!