Homebound

"Homebound" (2025) was based on a New York Times article in 2020 describing a Covid convoy in India.  It got picked up by  Neerajk Ghaywan and got the attention of Martin Scorsese and has since become an Oscar nominee for best foreign film

The first half of the film is about two friends looking for a better way of life.  Shoaib is a Muslim and Chandu is a low caste Hindu.  They both think getting on the police force will give them more respect.  Chandu has a sister who wants him to get more education.  Getting into the police is very difficult because there are far more applicants than openings.  They have local jobs and have been suggested they can go to Dubai.  The two young men argue among themselves and try to motivate each other.

Shoaib and Chandu encounter prejudicial comments that they resent.  Shoaib has a sort of girl friend who encourages him and she also pushes for more education and later bends a little.

 Past the half way point we encounter a brief reference to a disease spreading.  Quickly we become aware there is a panic and Covid is identified.  People are asked to wear masks and to maintain a two meter separation from each other.  A big blow is when the mill they are working in (to save money and wait for better opportunities) shuts down for 21 days and later followed up with another shutdown.  In India it is common for rural residents to send family to work in factories and send money back home.  At this stage convoys are organized, but the demand is great.  

Chandu comes down with a serious illness.  It might be Covid, but might not and in any case it is not just Covid victims that struggle to find hospital space, it is every person in need of medical attention.  They do get onto a truck transporting workers back to their distant villages, but Chandu is so sick that the other passengers demand he get out.  Shoaib is very protective for his friend, but their bond is really tested.  To find out what happens you should see the movie.  Here in North America we didn't suffer as much as Third World countries. 

This film has been nominated and won many festival awards already.  A lot of people contributed and here are a few of them.

 Basharat Peer was an Indian journalist who attended the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.   He helped write the script for "Haider" (2014).  He wrote opinion pieces for the New York Times and one of them in 2022 was about how Covid had affected poor people in India.  It caught the attention of Neerajk Ghaywan and the notice of Martin Scorsese.  See  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/02/haider-bollywoods-version-of-shakespeare.html

Neerajk Ghaywan was the director and writer.  He was born in a Dalit  (the lowest caste, untouchables).  He got an engineering degree, but the corporate world was not what he wanted.  He became a film critic and became active in the film industry.  He helped Anurag Kashyup with "Gangs of Wassepur" (2012).  his first feature film was "Masaan" (2015).  He had filmed some shorts and won twice at Cannes Film Festival.  In 2016 he did a commercial for British Airways.  He has 9 directing credits, 5 for writing and 3 as an assistant director.

Karan Johar was a producer.  His family was well entrenched in Bollywood.  He started as a child actor.  Over time he became a major producer and director who occasionally did acting roles.  He became the host of a popular tv. show, "Koffee with Karan."  Karan played a key role with some of the most popular films and was known for launching big stars. He is credited with 79 producing credits plus 14 as director and 16 as an actor including the most popular film of all time, "Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995), "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (1998), "Kabhi Khushi Kabhe Gham" 2001), "My Name is Khan" (2010), "Raazi" (2018) and "Good Newz" (2020).    A bit surprise was that he was also a costume designer for my favorite star, Shah Rukh Khan.  So to get a feel for more for his films (and others) check out  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/06/shah-rukh-khan-worlds-most-famous-actor.html and http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/06/shah-rukh-khan-worlds-most-famous-actor_23.html 

Martin Scorsese took an early interest and became an executive and helping with the script.  He is well known to American viewers   His formal film education took place at New York University;s School of Film.  Later as a lecturer he taught Spike Lee and Oliver Stone.  Scorsese has been involved with restoring and finding lost films He has directed for 19 Oscar nominated performances.  He has 96 credits as a producer, 71 credits as a director, 36 credits as an actor (mostly cameos) and 16 as screenwriter.  His credits include "Taxi Driver" (1976), "Raging Bull" (1980), "After Hours" (1985), "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), "The Aviator" (2004), "The Departed" (2006), "Hugo" (2011), "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013), "Silence" (2016), "Rolling Thunder Revue" (2019),  "The Irishman" (2019) and "Maestro" (2023).  See   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/01/killers-of-moon-flower.html

 Naren Chandavarkar was the composer collaborating with familar partner, Benedict Taylor.  He has 38 composing credits including "The Girl in the Yellow Boots" (2010), "Ship of Theseus" (2012), "Killa" (2014), "Nil Battey Sunata" (2015), "Udta Punjab" (2016), "Newton" (2016) and "Trail By Fire" (2023).  Benedict Taylor played the violin, viola, sang vocals and helped compose for the film in the link; http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2017/01/ship-of-thesus.html

Pratik Shah was the cinematographer and was American.  He has 20 cinematography credits, 9 for the camera and electrical department, 2 for writing and 1 for the color department.  Mostly filmed in Bhopal, India.

Nitan Baid was the editor.  He has 135 editorial credits, 13 for the editorial department and 1 for additional crew including  "Masaan" (2015, "Raazi" (2018), "Gully Boy" (2019) and "Chandu Champion" (2024.  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/08/chandu-champion.html

Ishaan Khatter played Shoaib.  He has played in British, American and Indian series.  One of the series, "A Suitable Boy" (2015 )had been directed by Mira Nair, the mother of the new mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani.  Ishaan has 14 acting credits including Udta Punjab" (2016), "Dhadak" (2018) and "The Perfect Couple" (2024).

Vishal Jethwan played Chandan.  He has 19 acting credits including "Hindi Medium" (2017), "Mardaani 2" (2019) and "Human" (2022). 

Janhvi Kapoor played Sudha Bharti.  The daughter of famous actress, Sridevi.  She took acting course as the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Fillm Institute in California.  She has 17 acting credits including ""Dhadak" (2018 and "Ulajh" (2024).

"Homebound" is available on Netflix subtitled.

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  They are not necessarily a recommendation, but generally I found them worthy of my time.  If you follow the links you should be able to determine if a particular film is worth following up.  

HAIDER: BOLLYWOOD'S VERSION OF SHAKESPEARE

In grade 13 "Hamlet" was selected as our drama choice in English class.  As we had provincial exams that year it was important to really study it.  Shakespeare was a core author, but many students found him boring with all that old English dialect and obscure references.  Forced to understand a little better so my marks would help get me to university I learned a lot about Hamlet.  Shakespeare didn't just write for the rich, educated elite, but also for the "peanut gallery."  Although you might appreciate him better if you understood some archaic bit of history, you would also need to understand the coarse vernacular of his day.

Modern and even educated humanity largely ignores Shakespeare these days not realizing he is just beneath the surface.  IMDB had 1,038 entities for William Shakespeare as a writer with many of the films altered for modern tastes.  Wayne and Shuster had one little comedy routine where they suggested if men wanted to romance women they  should "brush up on Shakespeare."  Shakespeare quotations offer witty bits of wisdom.

There have been a lot of theories about Shakespeare being a front for others.  One of my favorites was Roger Bacon who one authority suggested had left proof in Oak Island, Nova Scotia.  Whatever the case, the genius made it through the obstacles

From medieval Denmark "Haider" shifts the scenery to Kashmir and from royalty to terrorist politics. Much of the plot I had forgotten, but it is fairly close to the original.  The key is really the emotional tensions and that is pretty loyal to Shakespeare.  The idea of making Shakespeare contemporary to make him more understandable is well illustrated here if you realize Kashmir is indeed a tense place and the politics affects everyone.

Vishal Bhardwaj wrote the screenplays produced directed and even wrote the music for two other films based on Shakespeare: "Omkara" and "MacBool."  There is a respect for Shakespeare in India that no doubt can be traced to colonialism.  He was helped by Basharat Peer,

Pankaj Kumar handled the cinematography.

Among the cast Shahid Kapoor, (best male actor) Tabu, (best supporting actress), Kay Kay Menon (best supporting male actor), won the recent Filmfare awards recognized as the oldest and most prominent of the Indian film industry.  Also won award for costume.   Irrfan Khan, Shradra Kapoor ably supported the winners.

Although Bollywood is prudish compared to Western cinema it is actually more explicit in the relationship.  Haider and Arshia have an on again, off again relationship.  In high school I had read that when Hamlet tells Ophelia to "get thee to a nunnery" he was referring to a brothel.

"Haider" has an interesting take on the graveyard scene.  The anguish of Haider's mother plays out with a terrorist suicide vest.

To give me some perspective I also watched the BBC 2009 version with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.  It too was modernized a bit with heavy emphasis on surveillance cameras.  The Bollywood version does give a little different perspective, but you will recognize the story and the tension.  Shakespeare lives on.