Director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound is becoming a festival favourite. After its première at the Cannes Film Festival, the Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, and Janhvi Kapoor-starrer made the cut for the Toronto International Film Festival. Now, the drama — based on an essay by Basharat Peer in The New York Times — has been selected as the closing film of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).    

The drama, which will be screened on August 24, follows two childhood friends from northern India who aspire to become police officers. But as their dream starts to become a reality, their friendship begins to falter. If Ghaywan explored grief and caste discrimination through his maiden directorial venture, Masaan (2015), he trains his lens on friendship this time. “Homebound explores the fragile threads of friendship, ambition, and the emotional cost of breaking free to come into your own,” he shares.

Neeraj Ghaywan