It has been over ten days since Neeraj Ghaywan’s sophomore film, Homebound came out in theatres. Actor Vishal Jethwa, who plays one of the protagonists, Chandan, was overcome with emotions during the film’s premiere, which was attended by celebrities he once looked up to. Vishal says that he went to the premiere with nervous energy. “I was overwhelmed with just the thought that my film will be watched by Hrithik Roshan sir or Farhan Akhtar sir. People I look up to,” he says. The premiere was also attended by Vishal’s close friends and family, who, according to him, celebrated the day like a festival. “And then posing for the paparazzi, who call your name and ask you to look at their camera, just filled me with joy. This is what I once dreamt of. I felt like I had arrived,” Vishal says.

This moment, however, almost wasn’t made. Vishal was first approached by the casting team of Homebound for the role of Shoaib, which was eventually played by Ishaan Khatter. Vishal gave the audition and waited for over three months, feeling slightly dejected that a big opportunity had slipped by. Soon, though, one more window opened. Another actor, who was previously finalised for Chandan’s role, couldn’t work it out with the makers and Vishal was called in for a second audition. “I didn’t want to let it go again. So, I thoroughly worked on the character, took help from friends to master the dialect, and gave the screen test,” Vishal says, adding how he was then called to the office of producer Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, where director Neeraj conducted his look test with Ishaan to understand their chemistry together. “Neeraj sir also spoke to me to understand what I do and where I come from. That’s how I got the role, I guess,” Vishal says, adding with a smile, “If I were not selected for the film, I would have missed out on seeing it go to the Cannes Film Festival and do so well today.”

Homebound is inspired by the tragic true story of two best friends, Mohammed Saiyub and Amrit Kumar, recounted for The New York Times by Basharat Peer. The article mainly recounts how the two friends faced adverse conditions as they were forced to take the road to reach home during the COVID-19 pandemic. This searing, deeply unsettling journey forms the second half of Neeraj’s film. In the first half, the director follows Shoaib and Chandan’s everyday life as marginalised people facing prejudice and otherisation in the only place they know as home. A pivotal scene places Chandan in a government office where he has gone to enquire about the delayed results of a competitive exam. An officer gives him a disgusted look when he comes to know that Chandan belongs to a “lower caste”. Vishal embodies the discomfort of the piercing gaze with a slight change of expression on his face as he moves back a little, the shock apparent in his eyes. “I tried to imagine myself as Chandan in that moment and how it would make me feel if someone did that to me,” Vishal says, sharing how he has been in similar instances in his life, feeling left out in certain spaces where others would speak in English. “It used to put me in a spot and I didn’t know how to react. So, all of that must have subconsciously helped me in understanding that moment,” he says. It was also the first scene that Vishal shot in the film. “It was quite difficult to do it on the first day. But at the same time, it helped me understand the tone of my character and how he struggles to be comfortable with his identity,” Vishal says.

The film portrays Chandan with dignity and respect, something which was reflected in Vishal’s performance. This world was new for him and his co-actors, Ishaan and Janhvi Kapoor. In order to shape their perspective, Neeraj suggested the actors read Dr BR Ambedkar’s essay, Annihilation of Caste, a seminal critique of the caste system. Reading the essay brought a shift in Vishal. “There are a lot of things that we have internalised because of what we have been taught at home or how we have been influenced by our surroundings. All of it is quite toxic for our society. Reading the essay made me realise all these things which I never thought were so serious,” says Vishal.

Homebound also marks Vishal’s second prominent film after Salaam Venky (2022), where he doesn’t play a negative character. The actor shot to fame playing the menacing villain in Rani Mukerji’s Mardaani 2 (2019) and played a similar role in Vidyut Jammwal’s spy-thriller, IB71 (2023). He says that he was worried in the beginning that he would be offered only villainous characters. “At the same time, I was ready to play a negative character too, as it felt like my bread and butter. However, I always wanted to be a versatile actor,” he says. “I think Salaam Venky helped in breaking that image. And now, Homebound has pushed it further. I hope I get to be part of more such experiments and get to do varied roles and genres,” the actor concludes.