We love foreign films at INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE. When they work, they’re more than entertainment—they’re a passport. A way to step into another part of the world and experience its rhythms, its customs, and its contradictions in a way no tour bus ever could.
That’s exactly what happens in director Neeraj Ghaywan’s powerful new drama HOMEBOUND—a film set in contemporary India that follows two lifelong friends trying to build a future against overwhelming odds. One is Muslim, the other Dalit, and their bond is tested by caste prejudice, religious discrimination, and the brutal realities of social class.
Inspired in part by a New York Times report from 2020, HOMEBOUND doesn’t soften what it shows us. It confronts the everyday humiliations that shape opportunity—and in a devastating final act, captures the life-shattering consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown, especially for migrant workers, who were among the hardest hit by the pandemic’s economic and social fallout.
Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, HOMEBOUND has emerged as a standout in the Best International Feature Oscar conversation, and it should not be counted out.
Neeraj Ghaywan was in Los Angeles for screenings, and Greg jumped at the chance to sit down with him in person at the Royal Theatre for a one-on-one conversation. We invite you to listen in.
Listen now to our conversation with director Neeraj Ghaywan — on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE.
Inspired by a true story first published in The New York Times, HOMEBOUND follows two friends — one Dalit and the other Muslim — on a journey across a country that often refuses to see them. It is the story of their search for dignity and belonging, for the simple grace of being treated as human.
Through their eyes, the film becomes a mirror to our times: reflecting the quiet cruelties of caste, the everyday wounds of faith-based prejudice, and the relentless struggle for work that drives migration and survival. Their journey, marked by resilience and tenderness, lays bare the fractures and fragile hopes that define contemporary India.
At its heart, HOMEBOUND is a cry for empathy — a reminder that home is not merely a place, but a feeling we carry within, and build between one another.