Homebound, which releases in cinemas tomorrow, is backed by Dharma Productions and is India’s official entry to the Oscars. It is directed by Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan and he once again proves his brilliance. This is a niche fare but very engaging. In fact, Neeraj packs in a lot in 122 minutes and yet, it has a certain artistic sensibility. The last act is very engrossing and the finale is something that deserves to be experienced. It’s sure to leave a deep impact on the viewers. On the flipside, the makers showed certain scenes in the trailer that are not present in the film; it amounts to cheating the viewers. Secondly, there’s no denying that discrimination exists in our society, but in some scenes, it doesn’t seem convincing. Ishaan Khatter delivers his best performance to date and is especially outstanding in the crying scenes. Vishal Jethwa is equally terrific and expresses a lot through his silences. Janhvi Kapoor puts up a genuine performance but her screen time is limited. Harshika Parmar (Vaishali; Chandan’s sister), Shalini Vatsa (Phool; Chandan’s mother), Vijay Vikram Singh (Shoaib’s top boss), Yogendra Vikram Singh (employee with a communal mindset), Shreedhar Dubey (Shoaib’s immediate and kind-hearted boss) and Pankaj Dubey (Shoaib’s father Hassan Ali) also do very well. All in all, Homebound is one of the best films of the year.
My rating – **** out of 5!