Homebound

This long-awaited second feature from celebrated Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan follows a pair of best friends from a northern Indian village who dream of securing police work as a means of infusing their lives with status and financial security. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, the heart-wrenching Homebound depicts a clash between youthful ambition and bracing political realities.

Chandan (Vishal Jethwa), a Dalit, and Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter), a Muslim, are determined to beat the odds: out of 2.5 million applicants, they each hope to win one of just 3,500 police jobs available, believing that wearing a uniform will provide them with the dignity they desire. But a year goes by without news of their exam results. Should they resign themselves to the poorly paid labour available in their village? Should they go to university? Or take a chance and move to Dubai to seek migrant jobs?

Economic pressures mount. Shoaib’s newly disabled father can no longer work the fields, while Chandan desperately wants to build his parents a house so that his mother can retire. But time, circumstance, and the ongoing humiliation they suffer due to religious and caste-based bigotry threatens to crush their hopes — and perhaps even their precious friendship.

Homebound fuses elements of Bollywood social drama with strong performances and atmospheric camera work. Jethwa and Khatter embody their characters with tremendous warmth and complexity, infusing the film with enough soul to help us weather the more enraging developments in this elegantly wrought tearjerker.