Despite the accolades ‘Homebound’ received all over India and worldwide, especially at the international film festivals, the film earned just Rs. 5 crore at the domestic box office.  The film lead, Ishaan Khatter, said he doesn’t want to label it as a failure.

Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound stars Ishaan Khatter alongside Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor. A true story inspired by two migrant workers during Covid-19and the lockdown. The narrative is about two childhood friends, a Dalit and a Muslim, who chase a police job that promises them security and dignity, which they have been denied for a long time in their lives.

The audience needs to be the stakeholders, says Ishaan Khatter.

Homebound has been selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars. The small films succeed at the international level in film festivals and are selected for prestigious Oscars, but they also need to succeed at the box office within our country.  One does hope the films like these will do well with the kind of numbers expected that you see with big commercial blockbusters.  

Ishaan Khatter says it would change things. He went on to say it would create a kind of culture where films are allowed to exist and thrive.  Unfortunately, we see rare films like these every once in a while, only, and in order to change that, the audience needs to be an active participant, almost like a stakeholder, as the film’s success depends on it.

Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, Homebound is produced by Dharma Production’s Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta alongside Somen Mishra and Adar Poonawala.

Martin Scorsese, the Hollywood veteran, is the executive producer. The film is loosely inspired by journalist Bahsarat Peer’s Taking Amrit Home, which is about a friendship in a pandemic, and also inspired by Death Beside the Highway.