DIRECTOR
Neeraj Ghaywan
Masaan

STARS
Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor

I have seen less films from India than I have from several other countries, yet Homebound, which is India’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards ® and boasts Oscar-winning Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese as executive producer, is one of the finest I’ve viewed.

At the core of the film are two characters whose friendship is core to each other. Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) and Mohammed (Ishaan Khatter) have been close friends since childhood. They are essentially brothers and mutually share this closeness despite one of them being Dalit (the lowest in India’s caste system). They also share the same aspirations: to become police officers where their faith and caste will no longer be the defining factors in society they presently are and have been all of their lives. And to financially support their families. The application process, however, is an extremely drawn out one after an overwhelming response, driving a wedge between the men and placing their lifelong friendship in jeopardy.

Homebound is the by-product of a story falling into the hands of just the right people to adapt, expand and tell it. The film itself is based on a New York Times article by Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer from 2020 and is co-written and brought to the screen by Neeraj Ghaywan, who came from a Dalit background himself. As such, one of the enduring factors in this heartfelt film is its insight into how India’s caste system and the people who enforce it decides the fate of those born into it and traps individuals within its narrow and disadvantaged confines. Despite there being endless tangents this topic could take the film, the focus of the writing impressively never gets sidetracked from keeping Chandan and Mohammed, and their friendship, even once there is a break in it, at its forefront. Irrespective of where they go, what they do and whether they are separate or together, Homebound consistently illustrates how their faith and caste continues to unjustly impede on every aspiration and hard-earned achievement they acquire. 

Should this topic and how it is explored throughout Homebound be involving for you as it was for me, then I highly recommend the best film I have seen that deeply analysis the caste system and is hands down one of the best films I’ve ever seen full stop, the hugely underrated 2023 film Origin from the United States. 

Homebound is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from September 26th, 2025.

Moviedoc thanks Miranda Brown Publicity for providing a screener link to watch and review this film. 

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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