Homebound

Homebound follows Shoaib and Chandan, inseparable friends from a village in North India who both see a police uniform as their one route out of poverty and prejudice — Shoaib as a Muslim, Chandan as a Dalit. As they study and struggle toward the same goal, the COVID-19 lockdown upends the country, and the two find themselves among the migrant workers walking home along the highways. The film traces how dignity, caste and faith shape their journey, and how the pandemic pushes their friendship to a wrenching test.

Homebound was written and directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, adapting Basharat Peer’s 2020 essay, with additional writing by Sumit Roy and dialogues by Ghaywan, Varun Grover and Shreedhar Dubey. It was produced by Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta and Somen Mishra under Dharma Productions, with filmmaker Martin Scorsese attached as executive producer. The film was photographed by Pratik Shah and edited by Nitin Baid, with a runtime of about 122 minutes.

The score was composed by Naren Chandavarkar and Benedict Taylor, with music by Amit Trivedi, favouring a restrained, atmospheric sound that underscores the film’s realism.

Homebound had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2025, where it received a lengthy standing ovation, before releasing in Indian theatres on 26 September 2025. It drew widespread critical acclaim for its performances and its humane treatment of caste, faith and the migrant crisis, even as it made only a modest sum at the domestic box office.