Homebound (2025) on Netflix
Shoaib and Chandan, friends in a North Indian village, want police jobs and the respect they never had. Chandan enrolls in college; Shoaib supports his family after his father's knee injury.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.9/1014,583 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
In a small village in North India, Shoaib and Chandan have been friends since they were boys. Shoaib is Muslim and Chandan is a Dalit, and both have gone without the respect they believe they are owed. Becoming police officers is the dream the two share, and the Indian Police Service exam is what stands between them and the post. Chandan, at Sudha's encouragement, enrolls in college. Shoaib's father has injured his knee, and Shoaib struggles to support the family. Both move closer to the goal, and the pressure and struggle of the attempt bring friction into a friendship that has lasted since childhood.
Cast
- Pankaj Dubeyas Hassan Ali
- Harshika Parmaras Vaishali
- Sudipta Saxenaas Shehnaz Ali
- Kuldeep Raghuvanshias Kanojia
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Homebound (2025)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- India's Central Board of Film Certification asked director Neeraj Ghaywan to make 11 modifications, censoring 1 minute 17 seconds of footage, muting or replacing words at six places including 'gyan', deleting a dialogue and a two-second visual of a man performing puja.
- Author and journalist Puja Changoiwala alleged in December 2025 that the producers of Homebound plagiarised her 2021 novel Homebound, reproducing its scenes, dialogue and narrative structure in the second half of the film, and she began legal proceedings.
- Martin Scorsese helped Neeraj Ghaywan craft the screenplay and watched three different cuts of the film during editing, after French producer Mélita Toscan du Plantier brought him on board as executive producer.
- Homebound made less than ₹5 crore against a budget of over ₹25 crore, a massive box-office disaster despite highly positive critical reviews.
