Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound was selected as India’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards on Friday.
The announcement was made by Film Federation of India president Firdausul Hasan in Kolkata.
Starring Ishaan Khatter, Janhvi Kapoor, and Vishal Jethwa, the film is set to release in theatres on September 26.
Homebound follows the journey of two childhood friends in a North Indian village, striving to land a police job. However, as they edge closer to their dream, desperation and personal conflict begin to test the strength of their bond.
The film’s story was inspired by an essay, Taking Amrit Home (now retitled A Friendship, a Pandemic and a Death Beside the Highway), by Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer. It was published in the New York Times in 2020.
Homebound had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category in May. The film marks Ghaywan's second directorial after 2015’s Masaan, which also premiered in the same section at Cannes and won two awards.
Homebound received a nine-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. The film won two awards for best film and best director at the International Film Festival of Melbourne in August.
Recently, Homebound also bagged the second runner-up trophy in the People’s Choice International category at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Tanvi: The Great (Hindi), The Bengali Files (Hindi), Pushpa 2 (Telugu), Kannappa (Telugu), Jugnuma (Hindi), Kesari Chapter 2 (Hindi) and Phule (Hindi) are some of the other films that were in the fray for the Oscars nomination from India.
The 98th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026. The nominations will be announced on January 22, 2026.
Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies was India’s Oscar entry in 2024. It failed to make it to the shortlist.