.png)
PART I: Unpacking the Context & Adaptation
1. Source Material: Fact vs. Fiction
Basharat Peer’s New York Times essay tells the story of Amrit Kumar and Mohammad Saiyub as textile workers in India’s informal economy. Their lives are shaped by low pay, job insecurity, and constant movement for work. When they die during the pandemic, their deaths point to a larger problem: a system that ignores and abandons its poorest workers. Homebound changes this real-life story by turning the two men into Chandan and Shoaib, who dream of becoming police constables. This fictional change is important because it shifts the focus from basic survival to hope, ambition, and trust in the state.
By making the characters future police officers, the film shows ambition as something connected to dignity, respect, and belonging in the system. Textile work in the essay offers no real chance to move forward, but becoming a police constable represents stability and a better life. When the lockdown begins, that hope is crushed by careless officials, corruption, and a lack of help. Unlike the essay, which highlights how invisible these men are, Homebound shows their disappointment and broken trust. Chandan and Shoaib are not outsiders they are trying to join the system. Their deaths reveal how empty the promises of fairness and opportunity can be, and how the state fails even those who believe in it.
2. Scorsese’s Influence:
Martin Scorsese’s role as Executive Producer is important not just as a famous name but as a sign of the film’s style and values. Scorsese is known for realistic films that focus on moral struggles and ordinary people trapped inside powerful systems. These qualities can be seen in Homebound through its calm tone, simple camera work, and slow, careful editing. The film avoids dramatic music or exaggerated emotions. Instead, it uses silence, long scenes, and everyday routines to show pain and loss. This reflects Scorsese’s belief that strong emotions come from realism, not spectacle.
The film’s controlled pacing also sets it apart from mainstream Indian cinema, which often relies on heavy drama. Scorsese’s influence likely helped shape this discipline and focus on real life. His involvement also helps the film reach international audiences. At global film festivals, his name signals seriousness and artistic quality, making the story easier for Western viewers to connect with, even if they are not familiar with India’s migrant crisis. For Indian audiences, however, this international style may feel distant or less emotional. Still, Scorsese’s presence does not take away from the film’s local meaning. Instead, it strengthens Homebound’s realism and helps it speak to viewers across cultures, making it both deeply Indian and universally human.
PART II: Narrative Structure & Thematic Depth
3. The Allure of the Uniform:
In Homebound, the police uniform is shown as a powerful symbol of hope in the first part of the film. For Chandan and Shoaib, it is not just a job but a promise of dignity, respect, and belonging. Coming from poor and marginalized backgrounds, the uniform seems like a way to escape an unstable life. It represents safety, recognition, and a rightful place in society something the state itself appears to offer. For men who are often ignored and treated as disposable, the uniform gives them visibility and value.
As the film moves forward, this hopeful image slowly breaks down. The idea of fairness in government jobs is exposed as misleading. Although the exams claim to give everyone an equal chance, the film shows that real equality does not exist. Preparation depends on money, education, and social support, which many people do not have. With thousands competing for very few jobs, hard work alone is not enough. The uniform turns into a false promise. Chandan and Shoaib’s tragedy is not only that they fail to wear it, but that their belief in its power makes their abandonment even more painful. In this way, the uniform becomes a symbol of both hope and betrayal.
4. Intersectionality: Caste and Religion:
Rather than foregrounding discrimination through overt conflict, Homebound adopts a restrained, observational approach to caste and religious prejudice. This subtlety underscores how deeply embedded such hierarchies are in everyday life.
Together, these moments illustrate how caste and religion intersect to shape the protagonists’ vulnerability. The film suggests that structural violence does not always announce itself loudly; often, it operates through denial, avoidance, and silence.
5. The Pandemic as a Turning Point :
In Homebound, the COVID-19 lockdown marks a clear turning point in the film, but it does not feel forced or artificial. Instead of being used only to move the story forward, the pandemic reveals problems that were already there. The dreams, inequalities, and failures of the system shown earlier do not begin with the lockdown they simply become impossible to ignore. What once felt uncertain now turns into a crisis, exposing how fragile the characters’ lives really are.
As the story shifts, the film moves from a quiet social drama to a struggle for survival. Chandan and Shoaib are no longer focused on future goals but on basic needs like food, transport, and safety. The state, which once seemed like a source of opportunity, disappears when help is most needed. This reflects real life, where the pandemic exposed long-standing neglect of migrant workers. Their hopes collapse as suddenly as the lockdown itself, showing that systems which fail during crises were never fair to begin with. In this way, the pandemic deepens the film’s message turning hope into endurance and survival into a privilege rather than a right.
PART III: Character & Performance Analysis
6. The Language of the Body
Vishal Jethwa’s performance as Chandan speaks strongly through body language rather than words. When Chandan is around people in authority teachers, officials, or employers his body seems to shrink. He lowers his eyes, bends his shoulders, and tries to take up as little space as possible. This is not simple fear or nervousness. It shows how caste discrimination becomes part of the body over time. Chandan has learned, through experience, that being visible can be dangerous.
One important scene is when Chandan is asked his full name. He pauses before answering, his jaw tightens, and his body slightly pulls back. Even before anyone reacts, his body expects judgment. Caste is never spoken aloud, but it controls the moment completely. Through this performance, the film shows how oppression lives in the body. Chandan’s shrinking posture is not weakness it is a way of surviving in a system that constantly threatens him.
7. The “Othered” Citizen:
Shoaib, played by Ishaan Khatter, is very different from Chandan. He carries restless energy and quiet anger. His choice to stay in India and apply for a government job, instead of taking work in Dubai, shows his deep connection to the idea of “home.” Migration might offer money, but it also means emotional distance. Staying in India promises belonging, even though that promise is often broken for people like him.
Khatter shows Shoaib as someone caught between hope and frustration. He knows the system is unfair, yet he still believes it might accept him one day. This shows how powerful the idea of national belonging is, even for those who are treated as outsiders. Shoaib’s tragedy is that he continues to believe in a country that does not fully accept him. The film suggests that for minority citizens, home is painful but leaving it feels impossible.
8. Gendered Perspectives:
Sudha Bharti, played by Janhvi Kapoor, represents a different kind of experience in Homebound. She is educated, confident, and protected by class privilege. Although she shares the same competitive space as Chandan and Shoaib, she does not face the same risks or fears. Through her, the film shows how access to education and social support can make ambition safer and more achievable.
However, Sudha is not fully developed as a character. She often feels more symbolic than personal. The film uses her to highlight contrast between safety and danger, confidence and hesitation but rarely explores her inner life deeply. While her presence adds meaning to the story, the film does not fully examine her gendered experience. As a result, Sudha adds thematic value but remains limited, missing an opportunity to explore gender alongside caste and religion in a more complete way.
PART IV: Cinematic Language
9. Visual Storytelling:
The cinematography by Pratik Shah in Homebound creates a strong visual feeling of tiredness, displacement, and disappearance. The film uses warm, grey, and dusty colors, which remove brightness from the frame. This reflects how emotionally drained the characters are and how uncaring the society around them feels. This effect is especially clear during the highway walking scenes, where Chandan and Shoaib are shown as small and fragile within large, empty spaces.
Wide shots place the characters against endless roads, making them look lost and unimportant. Highways, which usually represent progress and development, are shown as lonely and unsafe spaces. The road exists, but not for those who have to walk on it. By keeping the men at the edge of the frame or surrounded by emptiness, the film shows how invisible they are to the system. Alongside these wide shots, the camera often cuts to close-ups of tired feet, dusty skin, sweat, and heavy breathing. These images focus on pain and repetition rather than heroism. Walking becomes slow, painful, and never-ending, suggesting that their dignity is slowly being worn away.
10. The Power of Sound:
Sound is used just as carefully as visuals in Homebound. The background score by Naren Chandavarkar and Benedict Taylor is minimal and quiet, very different from the emotional music common in Bollywood films. Instead of telling the audience how to feel, the film allows long moments of silence to take over.
These silent moments are filled only with natural sounds footsteps, wind, traffic, and breathing. This silence feels heavy and uncomfortable, reflecting the lack of help, guidance, or support from the state during the lockdown. Silence here becomes meaningful, showing how the characters are surrounded by neglect. When music does appear, it is soft and restrained. It does not offer emotional relief or hope, but quietly reminds us of the harsh reality the characters face. By avoiding dramatic music, the film forces viewers to sit with exhaustion and fear. In this way, Homebound uses sound not to create drama, but to bear witness to suffering making the tragedy feel real, endured, and impossible to ignore.
PART V: Critical Discourse & Ethics
11. Censorship and Its Implications:
The CBFC’s demand for 11 cuts in Homebound, including muting the word “Gyan” and removing a reference to “Aloo Gobhi,” shows the state’s discomfort with symbolic meaning rather than direct criticism. On the surface, these words seem harmless. However, in India’s social and political context, they can suggest caste, class, or religious identity. The censorship reveals a fear of implication how ordinary language can quietly point to deeper social problems.
By censoring such small details, the CBFC appears to be uncomfortable with realism itself. Homebound does not make loud accusations; it simply observes everyday inequality. This makes the film harder to dismiss as propaganda and more troubling for those in power. Ishaan Khatter’s comment about “double standards” highlights this imbalance. Big commercial films often escape strict scrutiny, while socially grounded films face intense control. In this case, censorship becomes less about protecting audiences and more about limiting what stories are allowed to be seen.
12. The Ethics of Adaptation:
The plagiarism case and the claim by Amrit Kumar’s family that they were unaware of the film raise serious ethical questions. When films are based on real suffering, especially of marginalized people, legal permission alone is not enough. Filmmakers also have a moral responsibility to be transparent and respectful toward those whose lives inspire the story.
Although Homebound changes names and details, it still draws its emotional power from real trauma. Without consent or involvement, such adaptations risk repeating the same inequalities they criticize where marginalized lives are used without giving them voice, credit, or benefit. Simply saying the film “creates awareness” is not a strong ethical defense. Ethical storytelling depends on process, not just intention. The controversy reminds us that socially conscious cinema must also be socially responsible.
13. Art vs. Commerce:
Karan Johar’s statement that he may not produce films like Homebound again because they are not profitable highlights a long-standing problem in Indian cinema. Even though the film received international praise and awards recognition, it failed at the domestic box office. This shows a growing divide between films that are critically respected and those that succeed commercially, especially after the pandemic.
Today, many audiences prefer big stars, spectacle, and escapism in theatres, while serious films find space mainly at festivals or on streaming platforms. As a result, socially meaningful cinema is appreciated but pushed to the margins. Homebound’s journey shows how difficult it is for films about real social pain to survive in a market-driven system. It raises an important question: if cinema cannot afford to tell uncomfortable truths, who will tell them?
PART VI: Final Thoughts
Homebound is ultimately a film that asks difficult moral questions about dignity, justice, and belonging. It shows how hope in state institutions is created, encouraged, and then abandoned. The story moves from ambition and belief in a better future to deep disappointment and finally to a struggle for basic survival. This journey is not just emotional it is political. The film shows how systems give people hope but fail them when they need protection the most.
One of the film’s greatest strengths is how well its storytelling matches its message. The performances, especially Chandan’s quiet vulnerability and Shoaib’s restless anger, turn big ideas about caste, religion, and citizenship into real human experiences. The dusty visuals, empty landscapes, and close-up shots of tired bodies show how the characters slowly disappear from public concern. Silence and minimal sound make the suffering feel heavier, forcing the audience to sit with discomfort instead of escaping into emotion. The film does not try to make suffering beautiful it asks viewers to witness it honestly.
The debates around the film censorship, ethical concerns about adaptation, and its struggle between artistic value and commercial success reflect the same problems the film exposes. These issues raise questions about who is allowed to tell stories of marginalization and how openly those stories can be shared. In the end, Homebound offers no easy answers. It leaves viewers unsettled, asking them to think about what belonging truly means in a society where dignity is unevenly distributed. Its lasting power lies not in box office numbers, but in its ability to disturb, challenge, and stay with the audience long after the film ends.
.png)
Here is The Presentation on Homebound: A Critical Analysis of Aspiration and Institutional Betrayal:
References :
Barad, Dilip. "Academic Worksheet on Homebound." ResearchGate, 2025,
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment