Essay Archives - Page 18 of 42 - High On Films

When Gods Walk Among Men: The Living Spirit of ‘Kantara’

When Gods Walk Among Men: The Living Spirit of ‘Kantara’

October 11, 2025

‘King & Conqueror’ and the Long Shadow of ‘Game of Thrones’

‘King & Conqueror’ and the Long Shadow of ‘Game of Thrones’

October 9, 2025

Jugnuma 2025

Who Owns Nature? ‘Jugnuma’ and the Politics of Ecological Memory

October 9, 2025

Prerna Chatterjee

Between Surnames and Silences: The Unflinching World of Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’ (2025) Chandan and Shoaib, the protagonists of Ghaywan’s world, stand at opposite poles-- the former, a Dalit man from a scheduled caste; the latter, an orthodox Muslim. Though they share little in common, they are bound together, ever-so-strongly, by an unrelenting desire to break free from the shackles imposed by society. Yet as the film unfolds, we realise that more than society, it is themselves they must escape from. In his relentless attempt at spotlighting pressing socio-economic realities, Ghaywan lays bare a blistering truth: a significant portion of one’s identity is predetermined at birth, with no room for choice. The rest of life becomes a sentence, a punishment-- a burden of carrying that truth until the very last day. What follows is a cruel decision: to fight for balance, or to conceal and retreat in order to survive. Both paths are unjust, yet both remain undeniable verities. What “Homebound” does effortlessly is interrogate identity, religion, and caste erasure through a deeply personal, juxtaposed lens. Its characters do not merely wear these labels; they live and breathe them each day. For those born with higher immunities, such hierarchies might appear to matter only when filling out forms or applying for jobs. Yet the film insists otherwise-- it roots discrimination in the most mundane acts: filling a water bottle, sharing a meal. In these banal moments, when surnames don’t align with the standards, one is made distinctly aware of exclusion. Several poignant moments highlight this duality-- the two-edged sword of identity. To reveal or not to reveal. That is the question. The stark dichotomy emerges in the mindsets of Chandan and Shoaib. Chandan, quiet and withdrawn, is the boy who never raised his hand in class, who always chose silence. On official forms, he ticked the “General Quota” box despite belonging to a Scheduled Caste-- shielding himself from torture and name-calling at his university or police job. So fearful of revealing his surname, he often erased the question altogether, retreating into half-truths. The tremor in his voice-- brought to life brilliantly by Vishal Jethwa-- betrayed his terror at disclosing who he truly was. To survive, he would dismiss caste inquiries by calling himself a Brahmin or restricting himself to just his first name. His lover, Sudha, captures the futility of such concealment when she tells him: “Even if we end up with the same job, the same uniform, solving the same problems, we’ll still eat on the floor while they sit on high-chairs. That is why I carry my own chair wherever I go.” Do Check Out: Homebound (2025) ‘Cannes’ Movie Review: Neeraj Ghaywan’s Sophomore Feature Continues His Caste Examination With A Classically Dramatic Touch Shoaib, on the other hand, is Chandan’s opposite. Proud, outspoken, and uncompromising, he wears his religion and identity on his sleeve. He refuses to conceal his Muslim background, never bowing under pressure. But his courage comes with a cost. He is met with intensified discrimination and hostility. His senior refuses to let him touch his water bottle, insisting he will fill it himself. At work, he is asked to provide unnecessary documents, subjected to repeated background checks designed to exhaust him. At a corporate party, he is mocked as a Pakistani sympathiser, handed Lahori Korma to taste because, of course, he would “know how it should be cooked.” What begins as playful banter descends into humiliation so deep that Shoaib quits his respectable job and accepts a demotion he never wanted. The two men embody opposing strategies for survival: Chandan hides and climbs the ladder, Shoaib reveals and slips down it. Yet Ghaywan’s message is stark: neither path leads to liberation. Our society has made existence itself a curse, forcing individuals into impossible binaries: reveal or conceal, fight or retreat. Whichever choice you make, the cost is unbearable. We impose so many labels, standards, and hierarchies that embracing difference feels like an affliction. The film suggests we are inching toward a dystopia of uniformity, where everyone becomes a puppet, a cog, a robot. This despair resonates most vividly in the film’s pandemic sequences. Survival is not simply about resilience… It’s about origins, surnames, and connections. Aid is rationed according to where you come from and who you are. While the wealthy remain shielded in their mansions or travel in SUVs, the poor trudge on foot from village to village, changing transport endlessly, only to suffer most despite having laboured hardest. Their surnames lack weight; their identities offer no shield. And yet, even in this climate of abandonment, they find refuge in each other. What society denies them in dignity, they reclaim in companionship. At every turn, life hurls another curveball: brief moments of fortune followed swiftly by storms. The narrative’s peaks and troughs leave the audience breathless, aching with the heaviness of not belonging. There is not a single setting in which the weight of their identities did not bear down on them, except when they are in each other’s presence. Only there is a certain sense of unconditionality, where differences dissolve and only solidarity remains. “Homebound” ultimately uncovers two profound truths. The first is that living in a society that prides itself on being liberal, diverse, and democratic is an unrelenting battle, because beneath the rhetoric, it remains chained to hierarchies of religion, caste, and identity. The film reveals how difficult it is to simply exist when your very name, your faith, or the community you belong to becomes a marker that others use to discriminate against you. There is no neutral ground, no win-win situation in a world where the baggage of identity follows you everywhere. And yet, the film also insists on something softer, something hopeful. Even when society erases you, strips you of the weight of your surname or background, some bonds cannot be reduced to labels. There is a space where friendship, loyalty, and chosen family create a home untouched by prejudice. That’s where “Homebound” lingers… in the tension between erasure and belonging, between bitterness and tenderness. It shuns the cruelty of systems that divide, while at the same time reminding us of the beauty of bonds that heal, protect, and endure. Also Read: A Humanistic Mirror to India’s Fault Lines: Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’ Homebound (2025) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia, Letterboxd

Between Surnames and Silences: The Unflinching World of Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’ (2025)

October 4, 2025

Rhea Raj Shinde

The Last Frontier Is Us: What ‘Eddington’ and ‘One Battle After Another’ Say about Survival in the Current Global Order

The Last Frontier Is Us: What ‘Eddington’ and ‘One Battle After Another’ Say about Survival in the Current Global Order

October 3, 2025

Columns

Three of Us

Of Remembrances: ‘Three of Us’ Is A Poetic Ode to Memories

January 21, 2024

Arpita Chowdhury

Omkara Movie

Comparing the Characters of ‘Omkara’ to the Dramatis Personae of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’

January 20, 2024

Ashwamedham

Seeing Beyond the Sores: Unmasking Leprosy in the Malayalam Films Ashwamedham and Sarasayya

January 20, 2024

Dr. Aparna Ajith

Understanding the World of Eraserhead

January 19, 2024

Deloret Imnidian

24 Years of Hrithik Roshan: The Story So Far

25 Years of Hrithik Roshan: The Story So Far

January 10, 2024

How is “The Hunt” the Most Accurate Depiction of Social Horror?

January 9, 2024

Netflix's Rebel Moon “Snyder Cut”

How Netflix is Recreating the “Snyder Cut” Phenomenon with Rebel Moon?

December 30, 2023

Adil Rahim Hyder

Placing "A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night" within “The Girls of Revolution Street” Protests of Iran

Placing “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” within “The Girls of Revolution Street” Protests of Iran

December 24, 2023

How ‘Mysterious Skin’ Succeeds in Portraying Abuse Stories

On Healing and Coping: How ‘Mysterious Skin’ Succeeds in Portraying Abuse Stories

December 24, 2023

Federica Giampaolo

Punch-Drunk Love

Why Punch-Drunk Love (2002) is the Greatest Romcom of All Time?

December 14, 2023

The Success of “Animal”

The Success of “Animal” Speaks to the Broader Pervasiveness That’s Sheathed Over The National Conscience

December 14, 2023

Post Tenebras Lux Carlos Reygadas - hof

Transcendental Style as An Idea Of Being in the Filmography of Carlos Reygadas

December 11, 2023

Maria Vatcharadze

Hannibal: The Greatest Love Story Ever

November 30, 2023

Killers of the Flower Moon martin scorsese

“Killers of the Flower Moon” and the Politics of Martin Scorsese

November 21, 2023

Bottoms Queer Cinema

‘Bottoms’ and the New State of Queer Cinema

November 16, 2023

Federica Giampaolo

Sex Scenes in Movies - Oppenheimer

The Necessity or Lack Thereof of Sex Scenes in Movies

November 16, 2023

The Seasons of Time: An Introduction To Post-Love Era, Based on Spike Jonze’s Her

Essay

The Seasons of Time: An Introduction To Post-Love Era, Based on Spike Jonze’s Her

High on Films May 29, 2024

Essay · Review

On Female Violence in Thelma and Louise

Ankita Rathour February 1, 2023

Qala (2022): The Anatomy of Guilt

Essay

Qala (2022): The Anatomy of Guilt

Shivani Muralikrishna January 29, 2023

Mukundan Unni Associates (2022) – A Metamodern (?) Replica of The Tragedy of Macbeth

Essay

Mukundan Unni Associates (2022) – A Metamodern (?) Replica of The Tragedy of Macbeth

High on Films August 20, 2024

A Decade On: Her (2013) – Meditating Through A Haunting Dream

Essay

A Decade On: Her (2013) – Meditating Through A Haunting Dream

Aravind Nair January 20, 2023

Nightmare Alley (2021) – A Character Analysis of Stanton Carlisle

Essay

Nightmare Alley (2021) – A Character Analysis of Stanton Carlisle

Aratrika Roy July 30, 2023

The Enigma Called ‘Oppa’: How Korean Men Made Their Way Into Our Living Rooms

Essay

The Enigma Called ‘Oppa’: How Korean Men Made Their Way Into Our Living Rooms

Kajal Kapur January 17, 2023

‘Normal People’ is Toxicity wrapped in Western Melancholy, cleverly disguised as an absorbing story

Essay

‘Normal People’ is Toxicity wrapped in Western Melancholy, cleverly disguised as an absorbing story

Simra Sadaf August 20, 2024

The Metacinematic Cuisine of The Menu

Essay

The Metacinematic Cuisine of The Menu

Aravind Nair October 1, 2024