The Pandemic Period 'Homebound '

 Conditional Citizenship and the Denial of Dignity in Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound

Introduction

This blog has been assigned by Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad

Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound (2025) has largely been discussed as a pandemic film depicting migrant suffering during the COVID-19 lockdown. While such readings are not incorrect, they remain insufficient. The pandemic in Homebound does not function as the central subject of the narrative but as a mechanism that exposes deeper structural inequalities already embedded within Indian society. The film’s primary concern is not migration itself, but the fragile and conditional nature of citizenship as experienced by marginalized communities.

This blog argues that Homebound presents dignity not as an inherent right guaranteed by citizenship, but as a conditional privilege mediated by caste, religion, and institutional access. Through the trajectories of its two protagonists, Chandan and Shoaib, the film critiques the idea that modern India operates as a neutral meritocracy. Instead, it reveals how systems of aspiration, discipline, and state validation often reproduce exclusion while promising fairness.

Homebound is adapted from Basharat Peer’s 2020 New York Times essay recounting the experience of two migrant textile workers during the lockdown. In the original reportage, the protagonists are informal laborers whose primary concern is economic survival. Ghaywan’s film makes a significant alteration by reimagining them as aspiring police constables.

This shift is not merely narrative but ideological. By transforming the protagonists into candidates for state employment, the film relocates the story from the margins of informal labor to the symbolic center of institutional power. The police uniform becomes a focal point through which the film interrogates ambition, dignity, and belonging. Chandan and Shoaib do not seek authority; they seek legitimacy. Their aspiration is directed not toward dominance but toward social recognition.

This change allows the film to examine how marginalized individuals often turn to state institutions as mechanisms for escaping social stigma. In doing so, Homebound reframes ambition as a response to humiliation rather than greed, and institutional faith as a survival strategy rather than blind loyalty.

The film repeatedly foregrounds the competitive nature of the police recruitment process, emphasizing the extreme disparity between applicants and available positions. Rather than validating meritocracy, this imbalance exposes its fragility. The promise of fairness becomes statistically implausible, particularly for individuals already burdened by caste and religious prejudice.

Chandan and Shoaib’s belief in the system is not portrayed as foolish; it is portrayed as necessary. The film suggests that faith in institutional fairness becomes emotionally essential in contexts where social dignity is routinely denied. Meritocracy functions less as an equalizing mechanism and more as an ideological structure that sustains hope while deferring justice.

In this sense, Homebound critiques not failure but the conditions that make failure predictable. The uniform symbolizes not upward mobility but the desire to temporarily escape suspicion, humiliation, and social scrutiny.

Micro-Aggressions and the Normalization of Exclusion

One of the film’s most significant interventions lies in its depiction of discrimination through subtle, everyday interactions rather than overt violence. Caste and religious exclusion are shown operating through silence, avoidance, and social discomfort.

Chandan’s decision to apply under the “General” category rather than through reservation exposes the internalized stigma associated with caste identity. Reservation, while intended as a corrective measure, becomes emotionally complex in a society that continues to treat caste acknowledgment as a liability. The film does not question the legitimacy of reservation; it highlights the psychological cost of existing within a system that marks caste as shameful.

Similarly, the scene in which a co-worker refuses to accept a water bottle from Shoaib demonstrates how religious othering operates without confrontation. The absence of explanation or conflict renders the act socially deniable while remaining emotionally damaging. Homebound thus illustrates how contemporary discrimination often survives through politeness rather than hostility.

Performance plays a central role in conveying the film’s critique. Vishal Jethwa’s portrayal of Chandan relies heavily on physical restraint and bodily withdrawal. His hesitations, lowered gaze, and contracted posture in the presence of authority figures communicate internalized fear and social conditioning more effectively than dialogue.

Ishaan Khatter’s Shoaib, by contrast, embodies controlled frustration. His decision to reject an overseas opportunity in favor of a government job in India reflects a desire for national belonging rather than economic advancement. This choice underscores the irony at the heart of the film: the pursuit of acceptance from institutions that continue to view him with suspicion.

The film thus positions the body as a site where social hierarchies are inscribed and reproduced, even when legal frameworks claim neutrality.

Visual Style and the Representation of Exhaustion

Cinematographically, Homebound avoids dramatic spectacle. The visual palette is muted and dusty, emphasizing physical fatigue rather than emotional excess. Close-up shots of feet, sweat, and strained movement during the migration sequences deny viewers the distance required for romanticization.

This aesthetic choice aligns with the film’s thematic focus on slow, cumulative deprivation. Suffering is not depicted as extraordinary but as routine. The emphasis on exhaustion rather than tragedy reinforces the idea that dignity is eroded gradually through neglect rather than lost in singular catastrophic events.

Sound, Silence, and Emotional Restraint

The restrained use of background score further distinguishes Homebound from conventional melodramas. Silence frequently replaces music, compelling viewers to engage with discomfort rather than being guided toward emotional release.

This sonic minimalism supports the film’s ethical stance. By refusing to dictate emotional responses, the film denies catharsis and instead foregrounds endurance as a condition of marginalized life.

The Pandemic as Structural Exposure

The COVID-19 lockdown does not introduce instability into the narrative; it reveals existing precarity. The sudden collapse of institutional support exposes how citizenship operates conditionally, expanding in times of stability and contracting during crisis.

The genre shift from aspirational drama to survival narrative is therefore not abrupt but logical. The pandemic functions as an accelerant, making visible the limits of inclusion and the selective nature of state responsibility.

Ethics, Censorship, and Cultural Reception

The censorship controversies surrounding Homebound highlight institutional discomfort with narratives that foreground caste and religious tensions. The removal or muting of seemingly minor references suggests a broader anxiety about naming social fissures explicitly.

Additionally, debates surrounding authorship, representation, and compensation complicate the film’s ethical position. These controversies reflect the same structural inequalities the film critiques, raising questions about who benefits from stories of marginalization and who remains excluded even within representation.

The film’s commercial failure despite international recognition further reinforces its central argument. Symbolic prestige does not translate into material security either for the film or its characters.

Conclusion

Homebound ultimately presents citizenship as a conditional status rather than a stable identity. Dignity is not denied because the protagonists fail, but because the social and institutional structures within which they operate offer limited space for their recognition.

The film’s refusal to offer resolution or redemption underscores its central claim: equality often becomes visible only when abandonment is shared. By exposing the mechanisms through which dignity is deferred, regulated, and withdrawn, Homebound challenges viewers to reconsider the assumptions underlying merit, belonging, and national identity in contemporary India. 

References:

Barad, Dilip. Academic Worksheet on Homebound. ResearchGate, January 2026, DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.10952.99849. ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/399486487_Academic_Worksheet_on_Homebound.

“Homebound (2025) ⭐ 8.0 | Drama.” IMDb, 26 Sept. 2025, www.imdb.com/title/tt26733325