Homebound (2025) ‘Cannes’ Movie Review: Neeraj Ghaywan’s Sophomore Feature Continues His Caste Examination With A Classically Dramatic Touch

India’s presence on the European film festival circuit has been relatively–and worryingly–muted, especially given the nation’s seismic, almost self-sustaining movie industry. It appeared as though this might finally begin to change in 2024 when Payal Kapadia’s masterfully tender “All We Imagine As Light” broke through the barrier of the Cannes competition after a 30-year drought and emerged as a major standout through the rest of the season (in addition to the support from “Santosh” in the Un Certain Regard section). But one calendar year later, it appears as though we’re right back where we started; back in Cannes, one lone Indian film appears in a secondary sidebar, left adrift in a sea of Euro-American dominance.

At least this time, the film comes from a director with experience in this arena, as Neeraj Ghaywan’s debut “Masaan” was given the same Certain Regard treatment just a decade ago as his latest “Homebound” is now. Once more, the filmmaker’s soft approach to the interpersonal hardships of caste discrimination takes the forefront in a story whose basic framework remains steadfast in its dramatic push, if somewhat staid in its delivery.

Set in a small North Indian village, “Homebound” features a pair of lifelong Muslim friends, Chandar (Vishal Jethwa) and Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) in their attempts to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming police officers. From the very start, Ghaywan paints this goal as an extremely popular career play, as the train station greeting applicants is absolutely flooded to the brim with idealistic young men and women eager to take the entrance exam.

It quickly becomes clear, though, that for many, this avenue of police work is more of a point of pride and status than genuine ambition to aspire to the profession; in this sphere, working as a cop means power, power that can be used in life-changing ways. For Chandar, this means he can finally afford to build a sustainable house for his family. For Shoaib, this means a real chance to make something of himself as his own family faces medical strain. For both of them, this means, on the surface at least, an escape from the casteist discrimination that they have faced their entire lives.

It’s only when Chandar and Shoaib begin to diverge in their paths that “Homebound” explores a common story of friendship ripped apart at the seams, but Ghaywan remains committed to the drama of their circumstance, particularly insofar as these two continue to face social hardships at every turn. The personal struggles we see in the film ebb and flow with a surprising fluidity that shows how financial and societal straits can come to weigh people down even when it appears as though everything has finally begun to take shape.

One scene taking place at a cricket match viewing party perfectly distills the power of Ghaywan’s commentary, as caste and religion become intertwined in the social labelling of men whose achievements may never be enough for them to be viewed as equal. Even when caste discrimination is ruled as unconstitutional, public opinion continues to uphold segregationist practices in ways that the law can’t face; maybe becoming a cop won’t fix anything after all.

In that sense, while Ghaywan’s handling of a friendship put to the test by diverging career paths is nothing if not well-worn, like “Santosh,” the caste angle works well when contextualized within the desire to work for the law, a living conduit for upholding violent, discriminatory normalcy. It’s an angle that, unfortunately, “Homebound” only flirts with intermittently before its final 40 minutes, when the title takes on its full meaning and the film recontextualizes its struggles within the climate of a certain recent world-changing event.

Once “Homebound” makes this shift, the schmaltz of its friendship tether undoubtedly begins to chip away at whatever firmness of conviction Neeraj Ghaywan had upheld in his more focused—if familiar—conflict views. As ever, though, the heart of his message is fiercely in the right place, and sympathy for a subset of Indian society still cruelly ostracized on a systemic level reigns as the most crucial impetus for this turbulent journey home. Ghaywan remains firmly aware, however, that whether that home proves a place of comfort or a place of continued discrimination—or both—is another matter altogether.