Abhishek Srivastava

The shortlist is stacked with films that have already carved their reputations across the festival circuit, leaving Homebound to navigate a landscape dominated by films that combine both critical acclaim and international momentum.

Small films are put on silent trial from day one: succeed immediately or make room for the next release. But serious cinema often grows slowly. It needs discovery, not instant deployment. By denying it time, the system forces independent films into competitions they were never built for.

Dharmendra entered films with striking physicality and a raw, rural fire that directors quickly moulded into heroic spectacle. Success followed swiftly, and with it the burden of remaining larger than life, year after relentless year. The market wanted him invincible, untouchable, perpetually triumphant.