Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa And Janhvi Kapoor’s ‘Homebound’ Makes It Oscars Shortlist In International Feature Category
Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’ has made it to Oscars 2026 shortlist, as it inched one step closer to gaining a nomination at the upcoming Academy Awards.
‘Homebound’, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, has inched one step closer to getting nominated at the upcoming Oscars 2026 as it has been shortlisted in the International Film Feature category. The Hindi film, starring Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor, is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of 2025, with a lot of praise coming from international media. The Academy unveiled the shortlist in 12 categories on Tuesday, including the international category, animated short film, documentary feature, documentary short, live action short, makeup and hairstyling, original score, original song, sound, and visual effects.
As soon as the shortlist was announced, Karan Johar, the producer of ‘Homebound’ took to Instagram Stories to congratulate director Neeraj Ghaywan. He wrote, “We made the shortlist. Way to go team Homebound.”
Later, he took to Instagram again to share a lengthy post. KJo wrote, “I am not sure I can articulate how proud, elated and over the moon I am with the journey of #HOMEBOUND… all of us @dharmamovies are privileged to have this proud and important film in our filmography … thank you @neeraj.ghaywan for making so many dreams of ours come true… from Cannes to being on the Oscar shortlist this has been such an overwhelming journey! Love to the entire cast and crew and teams of this special special film!!!!!!!!! Upwards and onwards.”
Neeraj Ghaywan also took to Twitter to tell the world about the latest development, saying, “#Homebound has been shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards! @TheAcademy. We’re deeply grateful for the extraordinary love and support we've received from around the world.”
Check out the post here:
#Homebound has been shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards! @TheAcademy
— Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) December 16, 2025
We’re deeply grateful for the extraordinary love and support we've received from around the world. pic.twitter.com/2dgXjh57Wx
It is worth mentioning that the films shortlisted in the international film feature category for the upcoming Oscars include Argentina’s Belén, Brazil’s The Secret Agent, France’s It Was Just an Accident, Germany’s Sound of Falling, Iraq’s The President’s Cake, Japan’s Kokuho, Jordan’s All That’s Left of You, Norway’s Sentimental Value, Palestine’s Palestine 36, South Korea’s No Other Choice, Spain’s Sirât, Switzerland’s Late Shift, Taiwan’s Left-Handed Girl and Tunisia’s The Voice of Hind Rajab.
These movies have now advanced to the next round of voting in the category for the 98th Academy Awards. The voters are now required to watch all 15 films before making their final choice. The final nominations will be announced on January 22, 2026, while the ceremony will be hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien and will take place on March 15 next year.
Speaking of ‘Homebound’, the film is inspired by a true incident, revolving around childhood friends Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan (Vishal Jethwa). The plot of the movie follows two youngsters and their dream of joining the police force and leading a better life. However, as soon as they take one step forward, circumstances draw them back, keeping them in their shell.
‘Homebound’ also won the second runner-up prize in the International People’s Choice Awards at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The movie has Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese as its executive producer.
