'Homebound' director Neeraj Ghaywan on Janhvi Kapoor: 'She's been maligned publicly and heavily trolled but...'

‘Homebound’ director Neeraj Ghaywan is basking in the glory of the reviews his film has received at Cannes, that stars Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor again after Dhadak.

But reacting to the criticism the actress has faced in her career, the filmmaker said in a statement, “Shes 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.”

He added, “I gave her [Bhimrao Ramji] Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste to read, and she went into a rabbit hole of trying to understand the glaring differences that we live with together.”

About Homebound

Neeraj Ghaywan and the star cast of the film walked the red carpet at the 78th Cannes Film Festival ahead of the film’s screening in the Un Certain Regard segment.

This is Ghaywan’s second time at the prestigious gala where he brought his directorial debut “Masaan” back in 2015. The critically-acclaimed social drama also premiered in the same section where it won two awards.

The director appeared on the red carpet on Tuesday evening along with film’s cast Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor and producer Karan Johar of Dharma Productions.

“From Indian soil to the shores of Cannes – our team Homebound shines moments before the red carpet,” Dharma Productions captioned a group photograph of the film’s team shared on its official Instagram page on Wednesday morning.

Ghaywan re-shared a series of pictures from the red carpet with the cast and crew, along with a picture with Hollywood filmmaker Spike Lee on Instagram. “Chatted with @officialspikelee! Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X and Blackkklansman have been a huge inspiration to me. His oeuvre is a lesson in talking about oppression through cinema. More power to you, sir!” he wrote.