Neeraj Ghaywan thanks Homebound team after Cannes premiere, leaves out DoP Pratik Shah amid abuse allegations

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

Homebound cinematographer Pratik Shah found himself in a controversy after he was accused of abuse and inappropriate conduct. He deleted his Instagram account shortly after. Now the film's director Neeraj Ghaywan has posted a note of gratitude for the people involved in the making of the film, but left out any mention of Pratik Shah. (Also read: Dharma Productions addresses abuse allegations against Homebound DoP: 'Our internal committee didn't receive complaints')
Homebound had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last month in the Un Certain Regard section. However, it did not win an award there. On Monday, taking to his X account, Neeraj wrote: 'Now that the whirlwind that was Cannes is over, I'd like to acknowledge the contributions of people associated with our film #Homebound.'
He added, "Starting off with the writing process. It all began with the article 'Taking Amrit Home" that @BasharatPeer wrote for the New York Times. After introducing me to it, @somenmishra0 (Producer) pitched the idea of me directing the film to Basharat and he was excited by the prospect. Something inside of me cried out to make the story come to life as I read it. I travelled with Basharat to meet the families featured in the article. I was even more sure I wanted to pursue this story after meeting them. It made me reflect on my own life and I seeded that in the story. Basharat, without your article and your guidance, the Homebound journey would never have begun. I'm grateful to you!"
He went on to thank story and screenplay consultant Sumit Roy, dialogue-writer Varun Grover, dialect coach Shreedhar Dubey, the development team at Dharma Productions, DA and Script Supervisor Ibad Shaikh, co-producer Melita Toscan Du Plantier, and editor Nitin Baid.
'I forgot to add that I also wrote the Screenplay of Homebound. That was by myself,' he ended the tweet thread, which had no mention of cinematographer Pratik Shah.
Meanwhile, Dharma Productions addressed the matter in an official statement, 'Mr. Pratik Shah was a freelancer on the project Homebound and was working on it for a limited period. His engagement with us has been completed. During this limited period, our internal committee for POSH didn't receive any complaints against him from any cast or crew on our film Homebound.' Neeraj is yet to make a comment on the allegations of abuse and misconduct which were directed at Pratik Shah.
Homebound stars Ishaan Khatter, Janhvi Kapoor and Vishal Jethwa. The film's team were present at the Cannes screening where the film received a 9-minute-long standing ovation. It is executive produced by Martin Scorsese.