In a proud moment for India, director Neeraj Ghaywan’s film, Homebound, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2025, and it received a 9-minute standing ovation from the audience. The film stars Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa in the lead roles, while Janhvi Kapoor has a cameo, and Neeraj has now claimed that people will see her “true potential” in Homebound.
During a chat with Variety on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, Ghaywan came out in support of Janhvi and stated that she has been at the receiving end of extensive trolling and harsh criticism since the very beginning just because she is a star kid.
“She’s been maligned publicly and heavily trolled, but when people see this film and her true potential, they’ll wake up to see she’s really made of something else,” Ghaywan stated.
He revealed that he gifted Janhvi Babasaheb Ambedkar’s ‘Annihilation of Caste’ to read during the shoot of Homebound, and “she went into a rabbit hole of trying to understand the glaring differences that we live with together.”
Homebound producer Karan Johar added that Janhvi first got in touch with Ghaywan during a 10-day workshop for a film, that eventually never got made. “She felt she was in 10 days of therapy with Neeraj, and she felt healed as a result,” he stated.
KJo went on to say, “Even now, she says those seven or eight days spent on the sets of Homebound will be her best days spent on a film set. She felt she wasn’t really acting but going through some sort of personal catharsis.”
As Homebound premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Ghaywan, KJo and Janhvi, along with Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa, were all seen getting emotional and sharing a tight group hug, with the audience giving them a roaring round of applause and standing ovation. Janhvi was seen smiling through her tears, while Ghaywan broke down as KJo engulfed him in a warm embrace.
Homebound is also produced by Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra, while legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese serves as the executive producer of the film.
