Homebound director Neeraj Ghaywan: ‘I'd been hiding for 35 years. When you masquerade, your confidence dies'

Indian Express

a day ago

Neeraj Ghaywan's debut feature Masaan premiered in the Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. Set in Banaras, it was a story of collisions, in which unruly modernity and hidebound tradition rubbed up against each other, showing us the pushes and pulls India has lived with for centuries. And giving us a filmmaker to watch out for.
Ten years on, he returned to the Croisette with his second feature Homebound, which screened in the same section, the only Indian film to have been officially selected at the festival. The film, born out of a New York Times piece by journalist and writer Basharat Peer, cements the filmmaker's concerns — capturing the voice of the marginalised, speaking up for empathy and kindness and leaving us with a glimmer of hope.
Neeraj Ghaywan spoke to The Indian Express a day after the Cannes premiere — attended by the cast and crew, including lead actors Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor, and producers Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta and Somen Mishra — which left the audience teary-eyed, garnering a nine-minute standing ovation.
It was a free-flowing conversation on how Homebound came about, his own struggle with accepting his identity and how his 'coming out' has impacted his life. Excerpts:
Masaan's reception here at Cannes was quite memorable. How did you feel about the way the audience responded to Homebound? There were so many wet eyes and you were wiping away tears yourself…
I have seen the film a hundred times and even during the tech check I was dozing off, thinking I can't stand this film anymore, let's just get done with it. But once it started, so many visceral emotions welled up… like there's the making of a pukka ghar (belonging to the Dalit protagonist). When I was very young, we also had a kachcha khaprail wala ghar (house with clay-tiled roof). When we were building our house with cement, it was such a dream, all of us children would fight with my father, saying, 'Humein bhi daalna hai paani (we also want to help moisten the cement)'. When I saw this on screen, all those memories started coming back. I started tearing up and Karan (Johar) was sitting next to me and he also started tearing up. And I was like, who do I turn to, everyone is crying. It was overwhelming.
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We don't even realise we put in our films so much of what we are, who we are. Also because I'm so much that person, my work and I are so fused together, maybe that's why I took 10 years to make another film.
How did Homebound come about?
When I first started reading Basharat's story, which Somen (Mishra) got me, it shook me, and I thought why don't I write a larger story. Across the world, all minorities, people of colour, ethnic, religious, sexual minorities, even migrants, are relegated to statistics. It takes away accountability and becomes empty rhetoric.
What if we pick one person, see what all happens in that person's life, what did they eat, whom did they love, who did they leave behind, what made them go back, maybe there will be more empathy.
I'm not coming from a place of anger. I don't want to villianise anyone. In fact, I feel people want to empathise with the 'other side', I want to hold their hand, I want to say, let's talk. Maybe we've gone too far, let's recalibrate. Empathy and kindness are what the world needs badly at this point.
For a long time, you were not talking about your identity. Then at some point you embraced it and your being Dalit has become almost a badge of honour. What changed? How did you find the courage to come out?
For 35 years, I had been hiding. When you masquerade, your confidence dies. Every step you take, you think someone's watching you. My eldest sister was getting married — it was a Buddhist wedding — and I didn't want to go, because my big fear was that I would be outed. And then, finally, when I did speak up and it made the papers, my domestic help said, 'Bhaiyya, aap ki photo aayi hai (Your photo is in the paper)'. It took me three days to find the courage to tell her.
How did she respond?
She said, 'Achcha dada, aap Jai Bhim waley ho, par usse koi fark nahin padta (You are part of the Jai Bhim community, but that doesn't make a difference)' because you take care of us so well. Then I called my driver, made chai for him, and told him as well. He went quiet for a bit, and said 'Hamaare ghar waley chooaa-chhoot maantey hain (my family practises discrimination) but it makes no difference to me'.
Just imagine, speaking to my staff was difficult, it was super-duper difficult to talk to anyone else. My journey of becoming an Ambedkarite happened after that… I was like Chandan (the Dalit protagonist in the film), I was also hiding, but the more I read up, the clearer everything became.
But I also have to say that the weight of it is insurmountable. To be the only self-acknowledged Dalit in all of Hindi cinema history is two things — one that you have immense responsibility and at the same time, I don't want to be bracketed. I want to be a filmmaker making various kinds of films. I come from Ray's school where politics can never supersede your narrative. If that happens you are a propagandist. Then you're not cinema, you're vox pop.
What changed after the coming out?
Because I came out, my entire extended family got outed. Like me, most of them were masquerading, in their workplaces, in government offices, in senior positions. My nieces told me they were not comfortable with how they were being perceived. One person said good for you, but tough for me.
I'm still trying to navigate this, and coming into my own. I don't rue the fact that many people from my community want to practise Hinduism. It should be to each their own, as long as you practise humanity. My transformation happened through support from a lot of members of the community (Prakash Ambedkar, Suraj Yengde) and, of course, my close friends from within the filmmaking community.
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You got a lot of flak for showing a very glittery Dalit wedding in the TV series Made In Heaven (Season 2, 2023). Are you compensating by showing a very simple one in Homebound?
I'm glad you asked this question. The character in Made In Heaven was a very successful Dalit woman from Columbia University. It was a show about rich people. I wanted to shoot it with aplomb, so a Bvlgari ka mangalsutra wouldn't be out of place, okay? Also our production designer (Sally White) made it so stunning. It was a statement. Just because we are Dalit, why can't we have designer things? Aap ko jeans pehenne se dikkat hai, aap ko mooch ugaane se dikkat hai, aap ko ghodi chadne se dikkat hai, toh main aap ko dikhaaoonga ki yeh sab ho sakta hai. (You have a problem if we wear jeans, grow a moustache, or be carried on horseback for our weddings: I will show you that all of these can be done, and why not?)
But in Homebound, I was also aware of the class I was showing. Sudha Bharti (the other Dalit protagonist in the film) ek railways ke chotey officer ki beti hai, toh uska setup bhi chota hi rahega (is the daughter of a junior railway office, so her setup is spartan). I was trying to represent Sudha's reality.
How long did it take to add the layers of gender and class to the base story of Chandan Kumar and Mohammad Shoaib Ali, the Muslim-Dalit duo?
It took me three years to write the screenplay. There's a lot of me in it, the masquerading, my own journey, acceptance. In my childhood (in Hyderabad), I had a great friend called Askar, and his biryani would be the best, and one Eid when it didn't come, I jumped over the terrace and starting gobbling it straight from the vessel, and when the family returned and saw me, I was so embarrassed. This is in the film.
If there's one thing common to any community in the world, it is patriarchy. It is a unifier. Growing up, I was the son after three daughters, so I was pampered a lot. More than my father, it was my mother and grandmother. And when I became aware of it, I was so ashamed, and I wanted to call out myself. So there is Chandan's sister Vaishali (in the film) calling him out on his privilege.
What made you choose Ishaan and Janhvi? Was there pressure from Dharma Productions to include stars?
I had a cakewalk, you know. Here I am, making an indie-minded film with the biggest studio, with Karan Johar, with these stars, and Mr (Martin) Scorsese lending his name (to our film), and we are at Cannes. I'm vicariously living the dream of every independent filmmaker.
I didn't set out to make a disruptive movie. The actual reason is that the people attached came with genuine passion and empathy, that's all what I wanted. I cannot attach to people who don't feel for the politics (shown in the film). The deeper truth is much more important because they have to feel the lived reality as I have done. If they don't, I would feel dishonest.
We, as indie filmmakers, have a snooty bone about stars. Janhvi, I was sure about. We had been talking about making a biopic before this. I met her and told her I wanted her to audition, I'll train you, and workshop with you. She was going through a difficult time. For 10 days, we worked together. Initially, she would cry a lot, and slowly, I don't know how, it became therapy for her, and she became better through it. I spoke to her about privilege, and she read Annihilation of Caste, and went into a rabbit hole of understanding caste on her own. She started questioning a lot of things. She transformed through those days and came up with a terrific audition.
I did a very long immersion with the boys (Ishaan and Vishal). I told them that you come from varied backgrounds but are privileged. The characters won't come to you, you have to go to the characters, you will have to leave yourselves behind, unless tum log teh tak nahin pahunchoge, woh sach camera mein dikh jayega, agar tum sach se avgat nahin ho paatey ho, toh uss character ko karne ke haqdaar nahin ho, tumhaara privilege nahin banta (until you reach the depths, the truth, you do not have the right to play that character, that is not your privilege).
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Like in Masaan, I had told Vicky (Kaushal, in his breakout debut role) that ki yaar, tumko Banarasiya banna padega, nahin toh unki tauheen hai (you will have to become Banarasiya, or you will demean the character you are playing).
During the immersion exercise, we toured around north Indian villages, we went into homes, ate with families, lived through so many magical moments. It rewired them somehow, and you can see that in the film.
Also I was aware that main Cannes mein dikhaoonga, aur phir Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, do-teen screen mil jayega, that's all. (I was aware that the film will be in Cannes and then in big cities in India in two or three screens, that's all). But is that the extent of our responsibility? If the people we are basing our film on, if they don't feel seen, what is even the point of us artistes? If the presence of stars gives me that extra edge then maybe the film will go to a Kanpur, a Lucknow or Bhopal. That is a win. But at the same time, I will never compromise on performance.
In 10 years, do you see any difference in the perception of Indian cinema at Cannes?
I have two words: Payal Kapadia. She has just exploded, she has broken the ceiling, she has made way for so many people to come in and I don't think we celebrate her enough. I think that's the biggest change that's happened. Personally, for me, it's a sort of homecoming. This is where it all started, and I'm homebound to where it started. Toh meri ek tarah se ghar waapsi hai!