Neeraj Ghaywan's 'Homebound' named India's official entry for Oscars
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Kolkata (PTI): Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan's Hindi film "Homebound" was chosen as India's official entry for the 2026 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature category on Friday.
The movie, which was selected in the Un Certain Regard category at the Cannes Film Festival and was recently at the Toronto International Film Festival, was chosen to represent India at the Oscars by the chairperson of the selection committee N Chandra.
Chandra said a total of 24 films from different languages were in contention for representing the country at the Oscars.
"It was a very difficult choice. These were films that touched the lives of people.. We were not judges but coaches. We were searching for players who have made their mark," he said.
"'Homebound' was chosen unanimously by the jury to represent the country," he added.
Ghaywan shared the news on Instagram and reacted, "OMG!!! This is Real!!"
Asked whether controversial films like "The Bengal Files" did not make the cut, Chandra said every film in the list was a strong contender.
"But we had to select one film from India which will represent the country at the Oscars and 'Homebound' made the cut."
Other than "The Bengal Files", "Pushpa 2", "The Pyre", "Kesari", "Superboys of Malegaon", "Veera Chandrahasa" were among the films competing to be selected by the 14-member selection committee made of producers, directors, writers, editors and journalists.
"Homebound", produced by Karan Johar and Adar Poonawalla, stars Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor in lead roles.
The film is inspired by journalist Basharat Peer's The New York Times article "Taking Amrit Home", also titled (A Friendship, a Pandemic and a Death Beside the Highway).
The film portrays the childhood friendship between a Muslim and Dalit who chase a police job that promises them the dignity they have long been denied due to their surnames.
When the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes --which is where Ghaywan's much-acclaimed debut movie "Maasan" also screened -- "Homebound" received a nine-minute-long standing ovation.
The film has received warm reviews during its international festival run and has legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese as an executive producer.
“I have seen Neeraj’s first film Masaan in 2015 and I loved it, so when Mélita Toscan du Plantier (producer) sent me his second film, I was curious. I loved the story, the culture and was willing to help. Neeraj has made a beautifully crafted film that’s a significant contribution to Indian cinema," Scorsese said in a statement that was shared by Johar on Instagram.
Ghaywan later revealed that Scorsese mentored the team through the screenplay and multiple rounds of editing.
"He listened with care, understood the cultural context, and offered thoughtful, incisive notes each time. His kindness and commitment are extraordinary, and to have him nurture our film has been both a rare privilege and a profoundly humbling experience,” Ghaywan said in April.
"Homebound", which is set to release in theatres on September 26, also won major awards at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), including the best film and best director for Ghaywan.
At Toronto, the film was the second runner-up in the International People’s Choice Award category.
Indian films and talents have registered individual wins in Best Song, Music, Sound and Costume categories for films such as "Slumdog Millionaire" and "RRR", but no film has managed to win in the Best International Feature film segment, which was earlier known as the Best Foreign Film category.
Only three Indian films have received nominations in the category and they are Mehmood Khan's "Mother India", Mira Nair's "Salaam Bombay" and Ashutosh Gowarikar's "Lagaan". Deepa Mehta's "Water", starring John Abraham and Lisa Ray, also received a nomination but it was submitted from Canada.
The 98th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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