Friendship in the Time of Covid Told by Indian Oscar Hopeful
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 27 Nov, 2025

Attending an exclusive screening of Homebound reminded me what I have been missing by not fully embracing Indian cinema.

I’m a good Indian in a lot of ways: 

I always respect my elders by hitting them with an “Auntie” or “Uncle.”  Shoes come off the moment I enter a house or apartment.  And I never order less than a medium spice level, with the extremely rare exception of when I’m dining with White people. 

A poster from an LA screening and Q&A of Homebound

But there is one thing about me that no self-respecting Brown person in my life will let me live down:

I don’t watch Bollywood. Or really any Indian cinema, for that matter. 

Look, I'm not proud of it.  I, frankly, hope that the courage it took to admit this publicly does not go unnoticed.

And earlier this month, I took a massive step towards rectifying this: I attended an exclusive screening and Q&A of the film Homebound, India's official entry for the 98th annual Academy Awards in the category of Best International Feature Film.

To be clear, it's not technically a Bollywood film, which was quickly evident from the lack of a single song and dance number. 

But it took only Homebound’s 122 minute runtime for me to realize exactly how badly I’ve been missing out by not fully embracing Indian cinema.

The Film

Homebound is not some art house film. I at least knew enough to recognize the name of the movie’s producer Karan Johar who is basically India’s Martin Scorsese. 

Martin Scorsese is an executive producer of Homebound as well.  I knew I was in for some quality cinema.

What I didn’t know was the plot of the movie.  I hadn’t read a review or seen a trailer or even a single sentence description. 

I was flying completely blind, which has frankly been my preference going into films these days.  The world has become unpredictable.  A cinematic experience might as well be too.

I can confidently say the element of surprise added substantially to my enjoyment of the film.  That said, it’s nearly impossible to discuss it without addressing the plot. 

Without giving much away: This is a story of friendship. 

It’s about the characters Shoaib and Chandan, two young Indian villagers who dream of becoming police officers in hopes of achieving the respect and social status that two untouchables have never had.

I hadn’t realize going into the film that it was adapted from a viral New York Times story by journalist Basharat Peer.

Learning after seeing the film the events depicted in Homebound were based on real people and their experiences made it that much more powerful.

But this is the point at which I must recommend that those who have not seen the film stop reading and skip ahead to the “Post-screening Q&A” section.  I won’t spoil the very ending, but I will discuss an unexpected event that defines the film.

You’ve been warned.

The Plot 

When things aren’t going quite as planned for either of the main characters, they take grueling manual labor jobs in a far away area that require substantial train travel to get to. 

It’s a devastating setback: to go from dreaming of the prestigious life of a police officer to occupying crowded sleeping quarters just to make a pittance to send home to their families.

As this is all happening, there are a couple “blink and you’ll miss it” moments that plant the seeds of what will come. 

The first involves a passing mention of some sort of growing illness. While I asked myself if I was reading too much into it, a followup scene that involved background characters wearing masks confirmed exactly what the filmmakers were driving at despite lack of an explicit mention up yet.

The COVID-19 pandemic is suddenly thrust to the forefront of the film.

Only once we have truly familiarized ourselves with Shoaib and Chandan’s relationship does Homebound become a story of how they will face the devastation together. 

Specifically, it’s about how they will return home to their village once the world as we know it has stopped.

And while the unexpected plot shift might have felt out of place at first, that was likely the very point: To bring viewers back to a moment in which our lives were completely upended by something that had hardly even crossed your mind not long before.

It’s still surreal to watch the life-changing events of just five years ago play out on the silver screen in the same way that NASA’s discovery in Armageddon or the extraterrestrial attacks in Independence Day unfold.

The pandemic also served as something of a paradox. 

In a way, the unprecedented nature of the events intrinsically united every human on this planet.  But at the same time, the chaos managed to sow deep division, or at least expose some of the ideological differences that had already crept beneath the surface.

Here in the US, we frequently saw the same events driving people to vastly different conclusions.  One could argue that the government did far too little to address the spread of the virus while another might see their leaders’ decisions to mandate closures as an overstep.

This film, in my opinion, did a phenomenal job of letting viewers draw their own conclusions.

We got an excellent look at the way this virus quickly became a death sentence for the most vulnerable.  At the same time, closing down one’s place of employment could wreak absolute devastation to those relying on the income. 

The film did not tell you what to think.  It simply told you a gut-wrenching story and allowed you to draw your own conclusions.

Post-screening Q&A

Had I been more attuned to Indian cinema, I might have realized the sheer star power of the men sitting just a few yards in front of me during the post-screening Q&A, which was hosted by Product of Culture. 

Ishaan Khatter, who plays Shoaib, is not only a star in his own right but comes from a famed Bollywood bloodline.  His family, the Kapoor’s are well known in the industry. This includes his parents, half-brother, and extended family.

To put it in perspective, I brought my girlfriend to the screening who assured me that sending a photo she took of Ishaan Khatter had quickly increased her standing within her own family by several magnitudes.

The film’s female lead, Jahnvi Kapoor is not related to Khatter, but is arguably even bigger than him.  She’s the daughter of Sridevi, an absolute titan of the industry.  Sadly Kapoor, as well as Johar and Scorsese, were not in attendance for this screening. 

Vishal Jethwa, who plays Chandan, is still an up-and-comer, and likely the only person in attendance who it was socially acceptable for me to not recognize.

The film’s director Neeraj Gheywan joined Khatter and Jethwa onstage.

Together, the three spoke about the emotional toll that making this film took.  They spoke about how, while juggling many different aspect of the story, it was important to remember that the friendship between Chandan and Shoaib was their North Star.

Yes, it was a film about class, religion, and tragedy.  But it never strayed from putting the friendship of the two characters at the front and center.

And they reaffirmed the extent to which telling a delicate story like this requires compassion, which the team behind Homebound had in spades.

I encourage everyone to check out Homebound, which is not available to stream on Netflix.

And as a newfound lover of Indian cinema, I too am accepting recommendations.