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Neeraj Ghaywan’s directorial debut Masaan was premiered in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section in 2015. Ghaywan is back at Cannes with his second feature Homebound, starring Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa as childhood friends who pursue a job in the police force. The Dharma Productions title also stars Janhvi Kapoor and Reem Shaikh.
Ghaywan’s adaptation of a New York Times article by Basharat Peer from 2020 was premiered on Thursday to a rousing reception. Ghaywan spoke to Scroll at Cannes a day after the premiere about how Homebound has been a cathartic experience for him – and how Martin Scorsese got involved with the film.
What were you feeling at the premiere of Homebound – joy, relief, excitement?
I have seen the film so many times I was unsure of what would happen at the premiere. In fact, I used to doze off during tech checks because I was so tired from making the film.
Strangely, I got emotional. And I was embarrassed about how I could feel so emotional watching my own film.
Other strange things happened. There’s a scene in the film in which one of the families wants to build a new house. There’s a shot of the father spraying water on the cement on the terrace. This was in my subconscious because it happened in my childhood, when I didn’t have a proper house. When we did eventually get a concrete house, we used to watch our father pour water on the cement. We siblings used to fight over who would spray the water. That strange memory returned to me while watching the film.
The applause went on for a considerable amount of time.
It was overwhelming. Once the film got over and Karan [Johar, Dharma Productions head] hugged me, I don’t know got into me but I burst out crying. It was a release from so many things – the exhaustion, the fact that my entire crew was there. A few people I’d never met before came up to me and broke down, which really touched my heart.
It was surreal. I’ve honestly never experienced this kind of thing before. The film became so personal for people, and that meant a lot to me.
The manner in which you create empathy for the film’s characters is quite remarkable. In the process of making Homebound, what were your learnings?
The journey has been humbling, truly cathartic. Ten years is a long time between films.
I was going through a lot – depression, a big imposter syndrome. To counter that, I wanted to write so that I didn’t feel anything else. I numbed myself while creating the story, but it took a lot of effort.
A good performance and a good script are not enough for me. I want to experience the world and the characters up close – what is known as cinema verite. I took my own journey of going to villages and experiencing every single place. We also did an immersive exercise with the actors.
In one village, we ate at a very poor man’s house. He had three little daughters and one small kid, just the way I too have three older sisters. They had a small little house; the wife made amazing food. As I ate, the girls were showing me their rangoli designs.
I sat down to eat with my actors and the tears in my eyes wouldn’t stop. I felt so insignificant while making this film. There was this amazing humanity in front of me and I felt, what am I doing here? This is real life and this is so beautiful, so meaningful.
Some experiences were so profound that I cannot explain them in words. The experiences made me accept myself as well, because I have also been battling identity issues for a long time.
Although Homebound is adapted from a New York Times report, there’s a lot of you in the film too.
Yes, a lot of my personal experiences are strewn through the film. For instance, I grew up in a Dalit home. I was pampered a lot for being the male child, which I had a lot of shame about later – that I was given preferential treatment.
I wanted to call out my own self through this film. That’s why there is a scene that indicates that even being a minority, you will still carry the privilege of being a male.
If you go around the world and you look at any minority or majority, any group of people or community, you know what is one thing that is common? It’s patriarchy. Patriarchy unifies all ideologies, all communities everywhere.
You have often spoken of intersectionality, especially in the anthology film Ajeeb Daastans. How does Homebound tackle intersectionality?
When we talk about people of colour, or ethnic and religious minorities, or migrants or different kinds of sexualities, everybody is spoken only as a statistic. It helps sort of soften the guilt of being urban, with token statements and empty rhetoric hiding our apathy. So what if we actually pick two people from that and see their journeys so that we see the human side? Maybe we’ll start empathising.
My intention is never to point daggers at people or call this one a villain and that one evil. People are all victims of circumstances. It’s not about ideology or community. It’s actually people failing people. What if we practise a bit of humanity and empathy and listen to the other side? That was the whole intent.
How did Martin Scorsese get involved with Homebound as a producer?
Mr Scorsese had seen Masaan, and he said he loved it. My producer Melita Toscan du Plantier had shown him Masaan. She reached out to him about Homebound.
He gave me his feedback over email with pointers about the script, and that feedback was really good. He spoke about arcs and said, make it less expository, make certain other changes. He even helped us out in the edit after watching the first cut.
How then did you keep the film so rooted in Indian realities?
I wanted to keep it that way because this is a hybrid film. It’s not just about going to a big festival and getting claps. I also want the film to be seen in my homeland. I want people from all communities to watch and empathise.
What is even the point of us as artists if we only go for laurels but don’t engage with our society? That is why only some scenes are expository, for the world to understand. That is also why Homebound is a bit more emotional because we as Indians would want to watch and feel a certain way. I have tried to do something that maybe works everywhere.
Do you see yourself doing a movie in any other genre someday, maybe a crime thriller?
I would definitely want to do a crime thriller. I am obsessed with British crime, it’s my fix. I cannot survive without watching Brit or Scandinavian crime, but only fiction, not true crime. I would love to do horror too, maybe political horror.
This article first appeared on Scroll.in
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