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‘Homebound’ Review: A Moving Friendship Drama Set Against a Politically Fractured India
'Homebound,' Neeraj Ghaywan’s first feature in a decade, is tear-jerking and infuriating.
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Neeraj Ghaywan’s “Homebound” is the first time in ages that a mainstream Hindi-language production has felt vital — at least since Ghaywan’s own “Masaan,” which premiered at Cannes 10 years ago. A drama in which aspirations collide with harsh political realities, its tale of impoverished young men trying to escape their circumstances proves to be both a moving character piece, as well as a searing indictment of modern India.
The stage is set when lifelong best friends Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) — a Muslim and a Dalit, respectively — board a crowded train to a nearby city. They, along with countless other disenfranchised youths, hope to gain access to a handful of increasingly exclusive government jobs, as their only means of making a decent living. In Shoaib and Chandan’s case, they hope to become police trainees, under the optimistic belief that the official uniform will render them immune to discrimination based on religion and caste. However, soon after this prologue, an entire year passes without an official answer, leaving them in social and financial limbo.
The duo’s domestic lives, in their tiny North Indian village, are sketched with vivid physical and emotional hues, denoting their generational plight. For the gruff, outgoing Shoaib, a job and money are a matter of urgency, given his disabled father’s impending knee surgery, until which he can’t work in the fields. The more reserved and simmering Chandan hopes to earn enough money to build his parents a concrete house, so his mother doesn’t have to work. Both young men also harbor a sense of yearning: Shoaib wants to stay close to home, near the sights, fragrances, and people he knows, while Chandan begins attending college as he waits, if only for the sake of his crush, the similarly lower caste but slightly more well-to-do Sudha (Jhanvi Kapoor).
Popular on VarietyShoaib and Chandan start out as a playful pair, but their struggle to find work leads to increasing frustrations, driving a wedge between them. Khatter and Jethwa put on immensely endearing and unpredictable performances. Unfortunately, unlike her “Dhadak” co-star Khatter, Kapoor (who was similarly raised in the Hindi film industry) hasn’t yet learned to shed the enunciations and gestures that suggest someone who was raised in a major city, surrounded by wealth. This makes Sudha’s dynamic with Chandan play like the kind of inter-class or inter-caste romance typical of Indian dramas, despite what’s actually intended. However, this disconnect is limited to only a handful of scenes, since Kapoor’s role is truncated to the point of feeling perfunctory. It’s the movie’s only major flaw, but it works in its favor, allowing the leading duo the lion’s share of the runtime.
“Homebound” is built in the vein of a traditional Bollywood social drama, which is to say it contains broad political statements delivered practically down the lens, but its leads inject this otherwise obvious cinematic form with moving, naturalistic nuance. Where some of the dialogue is overt, other exchanges tease hidden details that slowly reveal themselves over time, like the way Chandan hesitates to introduce himself with his full name, lest he be judged on his social standing. Shoaib, ever the romantic about what the two of them are owed as human beings, chastises Chandan for not embracing his identity, and the advantages that come with quotas for the oppressed, even if it means embracing the scorn of conspiracy theorists.
Ghaywan and cinematographer Pratik Shah’s roving camera captures the boys’ surroundings with a poetic soft focus, enhancing their idealistic discussions about their birthrights as Indians, and the constitutional privileges they’re casually denied. The law says one thing, while the dehumanizing gaze of upper-caste Hindu officials says another. All these conflicts build atop each other en route to a major turn that’s not quite a “twist,” but a surprising reveal about the movie’s proximity to recent events, which brings its title into focus.
For this pivot to fully land, the film needs to lay a solid emotional foundation, which it does with incredible deftness and dramatic balance. Shoaib and Chandan share a friendship so realistic that any disagreement between them hurts. On the other hand, any fleeting gesture of affection or vulnerability — like Chandan standing in Shoaib’s path during an Islamophobic assault — makes love practically radiate through the screen. What’s valuable about the pair’s camaraderie is that it’s a gentle note played against the harsh orchestral assault of India’s fractured political milieu, which trickles down through every social fabric, until navigating daily life and simple conversations means swallowing indignities.
The most riveting turns in “Homebound” are distinctly personal. But given the movie’s careful construction, they radiate outwards and latch on to systemic failings with a sense of righteousness. It’s a film of great tragedy, but one so rooted in beating humanity that you can’t help but be left furious, in addition to teary-eyed.
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