Neeraj Ghaywan, the man who gave us the haunting beauty of Masaan and the emotional punches of Geeli Pucchi, just broke the internet — in the gentlest, most indie way possible. Taking to social media, he shouted (digitally, of course), “OMG!! This is real!” And with that, he announced that his latest film Homebound is India’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards.
Let’s be real — most Indian indie films don’t even get a hello from global awards. But Homebound is different. It debuted at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a nine-minute standing ovation — that’s practically an eternity in Cannes-time, especially for a film without a red carpet dance number or a celebrity cameo. People cried, critics tweeted, and someone even called it “the Pather Panchali of the pandemic era.” Big shoes. Big praise.
Based on Basharat Peer’s deeply personal 2020 New York Times essay, Homebound follows two childhood friends navigating the chaos of rural unemployment, caste identity, and an unforgiving COVID-19 lockdown as they chase their dream of becoming police officers. No guns-blazing heroics here — just quiet, aching realism. The kind that hits you three scenes later when you're brushing your teeth and suddenly crying into your Colgate.
What makes this even more heart-swelling is what it means for Indian independent cinema. No star-studded spectacle, no sugar-coated melodrama — just raw, unfiltered storytelling with characters that feel like your cousins, your neighbors, or, let’s be honest, you. Ghaywan has always been a champion of the unheard and unseen, and Homebound just might be his loudest whisper yet.
So yes, Homebound is headed to the Oscars, and yes, Neeraj Ghaywan is losing his mind in the best possible way. And if you’re not rooting for this one — sorry, but we can’t be friends right now.
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