Neeraj Ghaywan's friendship saga Homebound is India's Oscar entry

Less than a week ago, Neeraj Ghaywan's film, Homebound, received a standing ovation lasting several minutes from a nearly 2,000-strong audience at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

- Dhamini Ratnam

The film, produced by Karan Johar and Adar Poonawalla's Dharma Productions, was the second runner up in the International People’s Choice Award category.

On Friday, the selection committee of the Film Federation of India offered its own ringing endorsement of Homebound by announcing that it will be India’s official entry at the 98th Academy Awards for the Best International Feature Film category.

Ishaan Khatter, Jahnvi Kapoor, Vishal Jethwa, play the lead roles in the Hindi film, which is based on a 2020 article published in the New York Times by Basharat Peer, which spoke of the friendship between two men, both migrant labourers, who were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres to their home due to the Covid-induced lockdown.