Homebound (2025): A Literary Reading of Migration, Dignity, and the Failed Idea of Home

       “Har wapsi ghar nahi hoti, aur har ghar panaah nahi deta.”

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Course: Film Studies / Literature & Media
Submitted to: Dr. & Prof. Dilip Barad
Student: Siddharth Chauhan
Title: Homebound (2025): A Literary Reading of Migration, Dignity, and Belonging

This blog approaches Homebound (2025) as a literary text rather than a conventional film review. The analysis deliberately applies concepts central to literary studies—such as the Bildungsroman, Naturalism, Existential Tragedy, and narrative ethics—to demonstrate how cinematic texts can be critically examined using literary frameworks. The structure follows an outcome-based model emphasized in the syllabus: contextual grounding, theoretical application, close reading of scenes and performances, ethical critique, and final synthesis.

The essay aligns with interdisciplinary learning objectives by integrating film studies with social theory, postcolonial discourse, and narrative analysis. Care has been taken to avoid plot summary and instead focus on interpretation, argumentation, and conceptual clarity. All ideas are articulated in original language, with theoretical references used only as analytical tools rather than borrowed commentary. This submission reflects an attempt to extend literary criticism beyond print texts while maintaining academic rigor and ethical sensitivity.

Homebound (2025) – Neeraj Ghaywan

Literary, Ethical, and Cinematic Analysis

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PART I: PRE-SCREENING CONTEXT & ADAPTATION

1. Source Material Analysis: From Reportage to Fiction

Homebound is adapted from Bharat Peer's 2020 New York Times essay, which documents the real-life ordeal of migrant workers Amrit Kumar and Mohammad Saiyub during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Key Adaptational Shift

  • Original Subjects: Textile workers

  • Fictional Protagonists: Aspiring police constables (Chandan and Shoaib)

Critical Implication

This shift reframes the narrative from economic survival to institutional aspiration.
The police uniform becomes a symbol of legitimacy, dignity, and state recognition, transforming ambition into an ontological desire—to be seen as citizens rather than expendable bodies.

Literary Lens:
The adaptation converts journalistic realism into a fractured Bildungsroman, where aspiration exists but social mobility remains structurally impossible.

2. Production Context: Scorsese as Executive Producer

Martin Scorsese’s mentorship is evident in:

  • Long takes

  • Observational pacing

  • Refusal of melodrama

  • Ethical restraint in framing suffering

Reception Divide

  • Western Festivals (Cannes, TIFF):
    Appreciated as social realism aligned with global art cinema.

  • Indian Audiences:
    Faced discomfort due to its refusal of narrative consolation and star-centric spectacle.

Inference:
Scorsese’s influence facilitates global legibility but widens the gap between festival cinema and domestic commercial expectations.

PART II: NARRATIVE STRUCTURE & THEMATIC STUDY

3. Politics of the Uniform

The police uniform represents:

  • Legal authority

  • Moral respectability

  • Escape from caste and religious stigma

Meritocracy Deconstructed

  • 2.5 million applicants for 3,500 posts exposes the myth of fairness.

  • Discipline and effort do not lead to progress; they sustain false hope.

Literary Mode:
A broken Bildungsroman—growth without arrival.

4. Intersectionality: Caste and Religion

Case A: Chandan Applying Under ‘General’ Category

  • Reveals internalized caste shame

  • Demonstrates how reservation becomes socially stigmatized

  • Identity becomes something to hide, not assert

Case B: Shoaib and the Water Bottle

  • A minor act with major implications

  • Religious segregation enacted through politeness

  • Violence without spectacle

Concept: Micro-aggression as narrative strategy
The film prioritizes quiet cruelty over overt brutality.

5. Pandemic as Narrative Device

The lockdown introduces a tonal rupture.

Critical Evaluation

  • Not a convenient twist

  • An inevitable exposure of Rob Nixon’s “slow violence”

  • Crisis accelerates pre-existing neglect

Genre Shift:

  • From social drama of aspiration

  • To survival thriller of endurance

PART III: CHARACTER & PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

6. Somatic Performance: Vishal Jethwa as Chandan

  • Physical contraction in front of authority

  • Avoidance of eye contact

  • Hesitant speech patterns

Interpretation:
The body functions as an archive of caste trauma.
History is not remembered—it is inhabited.

7. The “Othered” Citizen: Shoaib

  • Rejects Dubai job

  • Seeks belonging within India

  • Loyalty without reciprocity

Existential Tragedy:
His failure is not personal but civic—citizenship without acceptance.

8. Gendered Perspective: Sudha Bharti (Janhvi Kapoor)

Critical Debate

  • Seen as a narrative device by some critics

  • Represents:

    • Educational privilege

    • Institutional access

    • Gendered contrast to male precarity

Balanced Reading:
While underwritten, she functions as a structural counterpoint, not merely a token presence.

PART IV: CINEMATIC LANGUAGE

9. Visual Aesthetics

  • Warm greys and dust tones

  • Emphasis on:

    • Feet

    • Sweat

    • Dirt

    • Repetition of movement

Effect:
Creates an aesthetic of exhaustion, denying romanticized suffering.

10. Soundscape

  • Minimalist background score

  • Extended silences

  • Absence of emotional cues

Contrast:
Unlike Bollywood melodrama, tragedy emerges through restraint, not excess.

PART V: CRITICAL DISCOURSE & ETHICS

11. Censorship Debate

  • CBFC cuts (e.g., muting “Gyan”)

  • Removal of caste-coded dialogue

Interpretation:
The state acts as a textual editor, sanitizing discomfort rather than confronting injustice.

12. Ethics of “True Story” Adaptation

  • Allegations of plagiarism

  • Real family’s exclusion

Ethical Question:
Can a film that critiques exploitation afford to replicate it in its production process?

13. Commercial Viability vs. Art

  • Cannes ovation, Oscar shortlist

  • Domestic box office failure

Inference:
Post-pandemic India shows limited institutional support for serious social cinema, privileging spectacle over critique.

PART VI: FINAL SYNTHESIS (Essay Framework)

Core Argument

Homebound asserts that dignity is not a reward for obedience or effort, but a basic right denied by systemic apathy.

Journey Home as Metaphor

  • Physical migration during lockdown

  • Psychological search for belonging

  • Civic desire for recognition

Conclusion:
Neither village nor nation offers sanctuary.
Home becomes not a place, but an unfulfilled promise.

Closing Literary Analogy

Homebound reads like a book whose heroic cover promises ascent,
whose pages dissolve into social realism,
and whose ending arrives already scarred by censorship, silence, and erasure.

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