Opinion | Homebound And The Long Walk Home |
Homebound, now India’s official entry in the Oscar race, is anything but loud. It doesn’t shout slogans or wave placards. It does something far more unsettling. It shows how much cruelty has become routine, how easy it is to live with it and how little it takes for a life to fall apart.
At its heart, the film is about two friends. Two young men who grow up together, dream together and believe that a government job might finally give them something this country rarely hands out freely: dignity. One is Dalit, one is Muslim. That matters every single day of their lives, long before Covid-19 ever arrives. The film understands something we often pretend not to see. Discrimination doesn’t always arrive as violence and, most of the days, it arrives as paperwork, silence, jokes and closed doors.
Chandan’s caste follows him everywhere. He shortens his name, he hesitates before filling forms; he knows exactly what ticking the wrong box can cost him. Shoaib’s religion does the same. His name alone is enough to trigger suspicion. Even casual jokes about Pakistan aren’t casual when you’re the........