In a world obsessed with labels, boxes, and identity politics that reduce humans to their religious affiliations, Ishaan Khatter just said the quiet part out loud. And it’s breaking the internet for all the right reasons.
“I may be partly Hindu and partly Muslim because of my multicultural upbringing, but I can vouch for the fact that I’m fully human.”
That one line. From a 29-year-old Bollywood actor promoting his film. Just cut through years of divisive rhetoric and reminded everyone what actually matters. Not which temple you go to. Not which holy book you read. Not whether you were born into one faith or another. But whether you recognize the humanity in yourself and others.
Ishaan isn’t just making empty statements. He’s walking the walk. His latest film Homebound, directed by National Award winner Neeraj Ghaywan, is India’s official entry to the 98th Academy Awards. It’s backed by Martin Scorsese as executive producer. It premiered at Cannes to a nine-minute standing ovation. And it tells the story of two marginalized boys, one Muslim and one Dalit, whose friendship becomes a quiet act of resistance against systems designed to keep them apart.
The timing couldn’t be more significant. In 2025, when identity has become weaponized and pluralism feels threatened, a major Bollywood film is centering friendship across religious and caste lines. And its lead actor is openly discussing his interfaith upbringing, his visits to mandirs, masjids, and churches, and why India’s pluralism is its greatest strength.
This isn’t performative activism. This is personal truth becoming public conversation. And whether Homebound wins the Oscar or not, the dialogue it’s sparking about identity, belonging, and what it means to be Indian matters more than any trophy ever could.
Share this with everyone in your group chat because Ishaan Khatter just became the voice of a generation that refuses to choose between identities when they can embrace all of them.
The Interfaith Upbringing That Shaped Everything
Ishaan Khatter was born to actor Neelima Azeem and Rajesh Khattar. His mother is Muslim. His father is Hindu. He’s Shahid Kapoor’s half-brother through their shared mother. And he grew up in a household where religious identity wasn’t battle ground but beautiful tapestry.
“When you’re raised in a household that is, for the lack of another word, pluralistic, secular or just open, liberal, you grow up, like I did, going to mandirs, masjids, churches, and all of them, trying to imbibe the beauty of all of these religions, cultures, and faiths,” Ishaan told journalist Barkha Dutt in an interview for Mojo Story.
That upbringing gave him something rare in increasingly polarized world: the ability to see beyond labels. To recognize that religious traditions aren’t competing ideologies demanding exclusive allegiance but different paths offering unique wisdom. To understand that visiting a temple doesn’t make you less Muslim and praying at a mosque doesn’t make you less Hindu when your identity is rooted in shared humanity rather than rigid categories.
Ishaan believes this pluralism is India’s strength. The thing that makes the country special rather than divided. “We’re such a high functioning democracy in that sense. When you go to a place like New York or London, you realize it’s a cultural hub or a melting pot with so many different cultures. That’s probably the progressive way to be. That allows for so much growth in society, just to be able to have different perspectives and different people bringing in different strengths.”
The comparison to global cities is telling. Ishaan isn’t arguing India needs to import pluralism from the West. He’s saying India has this naturally, within its grain, not enforced but organic. The challenge is holding onto it. Protecting it. Refusing to let it erode under pressure from forces that profit from division.
“That’s something beautiful about our country. We have this within our grain naturally. It’s not been enforced. I really hope we can hold on to that because it’s beautiful and symbolic the way they’ve shown the friendship in the film. It’s a quiet act of resistance just by itself. Connection is a form of resistance when systems try to push you out or into the margins.”
That last line is everything. Connection as resistance. Friendship as rebellion. Choosing to see someone’s humanity instead of their label as radical act when the world demands you choose sides.
Homebound: The Film Making All These Conversations Possible
Neeraj Ghaywan hasn’t directed a feature film since Masaan in 2015. That debut earned him critical acclaim, festival awards, and reputation as filmmaker who tells deeply humanistic stories about caste, class, and marginalization with nuance and empathy. Ten years later, Homebound proves he hasn’t lost his touch.
The film is based on Basharat Peer’s 2020 column in The New York Times titled “A Friendship, A Pandemic, and a Death Beside the Highway.” It tells the true story of Mohammad Saiyub and Chandan Kumar, two childhood friends from Uttar Pradesh who dreamed of government jobs to escape poverty and earn respect. Saiyub is Muslim. Chandan is Dalit. Both face discrimination that limits their opportunities despite their talents and determination.
Ishaan plays Shoaib (inspired by Saiyub). Vishal Jethwa plays Chandan. Janhvi Kapoor plays their friend. The story follows their attempts to pass the national police exam, their struggles against systemic barriers, and the friendship that sustains them when everything else fails.
The film was shot in 2024 primarily in and around Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. French producer Mélita Toscan du Plantier brought Martin Scorsese on board as executive producer. Scorsese didn’t just lend his name. He helped craft the screenplay. He watched three different cuts during editing. He provided guidance from one master filmmaker to another emerging one.
That involvement isn’t charity. Scorsese recognized something in Ghaywan’s vision. A commitment to humanistic storytelling. A refusal to simplify complex social realities. A belief that cinema can spark conversations without delivering lectures.
Homebound premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. It reportedly received a nine-minute standing ovation. At the Toronto International Film Festival, it finished as second runner-up in the International People’s Choice Award category. In September 2025, the Film Federation of India selected it as the country’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards.
The film released theatrically in India on September 26, 2025. It’s now streaming on Netflix as of November 2025, making it accessible to global audiences right when Oscar campaign season heats up.
Don’t skip the next section because the Oscar campaign reality is wild and explains why having Martin Scorsese matters so much.
The Rs 100 Crore Oscar Campaign Reality Nobody Talks About
Getting selected as India’s official Oscar entry is an honor. Winning the actual award requires something else entirely: money. Massive amounts of money.
A competitive Oscar campaign for Best International Feature Film can cost Rs 100 crore and above. That’s approximately $12 million USD. For context, that’s more than many Indian films’ entire production budgets. And it’s spent entirely on marketing, screenings, For Your Consideration ads, Academy voter outreach, and strategic positioning.
The process is brutal. Around 80 countries submit films for the category. About 10 get disqualified for incomplete paperwork or not meeting technical requirements. From the remaining 70, Academy members watch and vote to create a shortlist of 15 films. From those 15, only 5 get nominated. And only one wins.
India has been nominated three times in the category’s history. Mother India in 1958. Salaam Bombay in 1989. Lagaan in 2002. None won. India’s only Oscar wins have come in open categories, including two for RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” in 2023.
The early rounds are crucial. That’s when international outreach, global media coverage, and festival circuit buzz matter most. By the time a film reaches the shortlist or nomination stage, it’s too late to start campaigning. The groundwork needs to happen months earlier.
This is where having Martin Scorsese attached helps enormously. His name opens doors. Gets media attention. Signals to Academy voters that a legendary filmmaker believes this film deserves their time. It doesn’t guarantee anything. But it helps immensely in an overcrowded field where most voters won’t watch all 70 submissions.
Homebound also has Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions behind it. Dharma has resources, international connections, and experience navigating global film industry politics. That institutional support combined with Scorsese’s involvement gives Homebound better odds than most Indian Oscar entries have had.
Whether it’s enough remains to be seen. The shortlist gets announced in December 2025. Nominations are announced in January 2026. The ceremony happens in March 2026. By then, we’ll know if Homebound made history or joined the long list of worthy films that didn’t make the cut.
Why This Film Refuses To Take Political Stands (And That’s Its Strength)
Ishaan emphasized repeatedly that Homebound doesn’t lecture. Doesn’t take explicit political stands. Doesn’t try to make anyone feel smaller or wrong. “This film is not an argument, but a conversation. I think we can all use more conversations,” he said.
That distinction matters. Arguments have winners and losers. Conversations have participants exchanging perspectives. Arguments entrench positions. Conversations create understanding. Arguments divide. Conversations connect.
The film shows two marginalized boys who empathize with and understand each other in ways privileged people can’t. Not because they’re Hindu and Muslim. But because they both face obstacles that bond them through shared struggle. Their religious and caste identities matter because they shape the specific discrimination each faces. But their friendship transcends those identities by recognizing common humanity underneath.
“It’s a story of two marginalized boys who are able to empathise with and understand each other in a way that other people wouldn’t, who don’t have the same obstacles in life. So, I’m glad it’s adding to a conversation because that’s the only way to move forward,” Ishaan explained.
The friendship itself becomes resistance. Not through grand gestures or explicit activism. But through the simple act of connection when systems demand separation. Of seeing each other as whole people rather than representatives of groups. Of choosing solidarity over division.
Ishaan is proud the film achieves this without preaching. “This film is not an argument, but a conversation.” In an era of increasingly strident political cinema on all sides, Homebound’s quieter approach feels radical. It trusts audiences to think rather than telling them what to think. It presents complexity rather than simplifying into good guys and bad guys. It honors the messiness of real life rather than imposing neat narrative resolution.
That approach won’t satisfy everyone. Some critics have argued Homebound lacks the depth and intensity needed for Oscar contention. That it’s too subtle, too quiet, too unwilling to make bold statements. But those criticisms miss the point. The film’s refusal to be polemical is precisely what makes it powerful.
Share this with your film-loving friends because the debate about whether quiet cinema can compete with loud statements is exactly what makes Homebound important.
What Ishaan’s Preparation Reveals About The Performance
Ishaan didn’t just show up and perform. He immersed himself in understanding the character, the culture, and the community his role represents. He worked on dialect, ensuring his Hindi reflected the Barabanki region’s specific linguistic patterns. He visited villages to observe and understand how people in that area live, work, and interact.
“My touch point and catalyst to this was entirely Neeraj Ghaywan. In fact, I knew of Basharat from earlier,” Ishaan revealed when asked if he met Mohammad Saiyub, the real person who inspired his character. His preparation came through the director’s vision and the journalist’s writing rather than direct contact with the subject.
That creative distance allowed Ishaan to create Shoaib as character rather than impersonation. To honor the real story while building fictional person who serves the film’s narrative. To find universal truth in specific experience.
Ishaan emphasized the importance of humanizing characters and building empathy. Not playing victims or representatives of oppressed groups, but whole people with dreams, frustrations, humor, and complexity. That nuanced approach elevates Homebound beyond social issue film into human story that happens to tackle social issues.
The actor called the film “necessary and hopeful.” Necessary because these stories need telling. Hopeful because they show connection triumphing over division, even temporarily, even imperfectly. In cynical times, hope isn’t naive. It’s essential.
The Bigger Picture: What This Means For Bollywood And Beyond
Ishaan Khatter openly discussing his interfaith upbringing and defending pluralism isn’t just personal statement. It’s cultural intervention. In an industry that often avoids political topics or reinforces existing prejudices, having a young star speak frankly about religious identity and secular values matters.
Bollywood has complicated relationship with representation. It’s made progressive films about interfaith romance, caste discrimination, and religious harmony. It’s also made films that stereotype Muslims, glorify upper-caste narratives, and avoid challenging social hierarchies. The industry reflects India’s contradictions: capable of both pluralism and prejudice, sometimes in the same film.
Homebound represents the best of what Indian cinema can be. Thoughtful. Humanistic. Willing to tackle difficult subjects without exploiting them. Centered on marginalized voices rather than making them supporting characters in stories about saviors.
Having this film represent India at the Oscars sends message about what the country wants to project internationally. Not mythological spectacles or nationalist narratives, but grounded stories about real struggles and human connection. Whether Academy voters respond to that message determines the film’s Oscar fate. But the message itself matters regardless.
Ishaan’s statements amplify the film’s themes. His willingness to discuss his own identity openly gives audiences permission to think complexly about theirs. To recognize that being half Hindu and half Muslim doesn’t make you half of anything. It makes you whole in different way. Fully human, fully Indian, fully yourself.
The Question Hanging Over Everything: Can It Actually Win?
Three Indian films have been nominated for Best International Feature. Zero have won. The category has existed since 1947 (though under different names). That’s 78 years of Indian cinema competing and never quite breaking through.
The reasons are complicated. Language barriers. Cultural differences. Academy voting patterns favoring European cinema. Campaigns that start too late or lack sufficient resources. Films that play brilliantly in Indian contexts but don’t translate for international audiences unfamiliar with the cultural references.
Homebound has advantages previous Indian entries lacked. Martin Scorsese’s involvement provides instant credibility. The Cannes standing ovation demonstrates international appeal. The Toronto Film Festival recognition shows North American audiences respond to it. The Netflix streaming deal ensures accessibility when voters want to watch.
The themes are universal. Friendship. Ambition. Discrimination. Dreams deferred by systemic barriers. These resonate across cultures even when specific details are uniquely Indian. The film doesn’t require understanding Indian politics or religious dynamics to appreciate the human story at its core.
But advantages don’t guarantee success. The competition is fierce. Countries submit their best work. Films from France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and dozens of other nations with strong cinematic traditions will battle for the same five nomination slots.
Homebound’s quiet approach could help or hurt. Some years, Academy voters favor subtle, humanistic films. Other years, they reward bold, visually spectacular ones. There’s no formula. Just educated guesses and expensive campaigns hoping to influence enough voters to make the difference.
The shortlist announcement in December 2025 will be first indicator. If Homebound makes the 15-film shortlist, it has legitimate shot at nomination. If it doesn’t, the journey ends there. Either way, the film has already succeeded in sparking conversations that matter more than awards.
Drop a comment: Have you watched Homebound yet? What do you think about Ishaan’s statements on identity and pluralism? Do you believe quiet cinema can win Oscars or does the Academy prefer louder statements? Share this with everyone who believes conversation trumps argument and connection beats division because these ideas need amplifying in 2025.
Follow for updates on Homebound’s Oscar campaign, shortlist announcements in December, and whether India finally breaks through at the Academy Awards after 78 years of trying. Because whether this film wins or not, Ishaan Khatter reminding everyone that being fully human matters more than being half anything is the real victory. And that message deserves spreading far beyond film festival circuits and award ceremonies into every conversation about identity, belonging, and what it actually means to be Indian in a world obsessed with labels that limit rather than liberate.
Ishaan Khatter is half Hindu, half Muslim, and fully human. Homebound is India’s Oscar entry backed by Martin Scorsese and Karan Johar. The film tells a quiet story about marginalized friendship as resistance against systems designed to divide. And in December 2025, as identity politics reaches fever pitch globally and pluralism feels increasingly fragile, a Bollywood actor is defending secular values, interfaith harmony, and the revolutionary idea that connection matters more than categories. Whether the Academy recognizes this film’s brilliance is almost beside the point. The conversations it’s sparking, the identities it’s validating, and the reminder that humanity transcends religious labels already make Homebound successful in ways that matter more than trophies. Ishaan Khatter grew up going to mandirs, masjids, and churches, imbibing beauty from all faiths rather than choosing sides. That upbringing shaped an actor willing to speak truth when silence would be safer. And whether you’re Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or none of the above, that truth is simple, powerful, and desperately needed: we’re all fully human first. Everything else is details.
