Homebound

Neeraj Ghaywan's powerfully moving second feature reclaims the big screen for so many elements that mainstream Hindi cinema has either lost the mojo or the ability to address, or has pushed aside. The film is urgently, cracklingly contemporary, speaking of and to an India where the advantage of birth and religion has unfairly deprived a whole section of its citizens from benefits most of us take for granted.

Homebound raises many questions. How did we get here? What has made us so bereft of empathy and compassion? A soul-stirring observation of a world growing cold, this is filmmaking at its finest.

There is an authenticity to Homebound that goes beyond the writing and the language. It’s in the realness of the spaces

The film is deeply moving and the director's view of social reality is profoundly compassionate. Homebound is shot without any fake embellishment, with an unflinching camera showing the ugliness of the spaces the underprivileged are forced to inhabit, and the performances by Khatter and Jethwa are wonderfully empathetic.

It's an emotionally rich study of friendship that ought to play as a bit syrupy given the story, but the musical score, usually very to the fore in more mainstream Indian films, has been smartly stripped down to let the excellent lead performers and strong cinematography bring the drama on their own.

Homebound is an unflinching portrait of caste, class, and discrimination.