‘To have made it to the shortlist of 15 films for the Academy Award is a big deal for us.’
Producer Karan Johar and Director Neeraj Ghaywan have a lot to be proud of.
Their film Homebound has made it to the shortlist of 15 films eligible for an Oscar in the Best International Feature Film category.
Homebound is the only Indian film to be shortlisted for the Oscar since Mehboob Khan’s Mother India, Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay and Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan.
“I am, of course, pleased for myself and for the film’s producer Karan Johar,” Ghaywan tells Subhash K Jha.
“If, as you say, Homebound has a good chance of bringing home the Oscar, then I am most happy. After I directed Masaan in 2015, I received many scripts from studios, but often stood in my own way.”
“I was searching for something where my identity and my work could merge, something that truly challenges me and resonates deeply with my values and my search for meaning in an increasingly disoriented world.”
Homebound has been going from strength to strength in recent months.
When legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese saw it, he immediately came on board as executive producer.
“It’s very funny but every time something major happens, I have this habit of calling Karan (Johar) and saying, ‘Can you sit down? I have something to tell you.’ He gets so worried every time I start my conversation with this opening.”
“When I told him, we made it to the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film festival, he was uncontrollably excited. Now this! To have made it to the shortlist of 15 films for the Academy Award is a big deal for us.”
Will Homebound get nominated at the 98th Academy Awards?
The legendary late filmmaker Shaji Karun, who headed the jury in 2021 for the selection of India’s Oscar entry, had said, ‘If you look at the movies that we are going to compete with at the Oscars, it’s like on the level of the Olympics. We should know what we are up against.
‘Looking at the films which win awards at festivals across the world, they all have a common thread of humanism. The idea of the human heart triumphing over all obstacles. That quality is common to all cultures.
‘We wanted to select a film that celebrated humanism. If we selected a political films or a film on a specific cultural event, they could easily be bypassed (at the Oscars) if they don’t match with the political ideologies of the people viewing the film.’
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
