Neeraj Ghaywan is a renowned Indian filmmaker whose newly released film, ‘Homebound,’ gained critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival 2025
The film showcases the themes of friendship, caste, and rural Indian realities, and it won a standing ovation with loud applause following its screening at Cannes with it now set to represent India at the Oscars as India’s official entry in the Best International Film segment.
Homebound Director Neeraj Ghaywan: Biography, age, wife, education, movies and net worth
OMG!! This is real! Homebound is India’s official entry to compete for the Best International Feature at th 98th Academy awards!! pic.twitter.com/aemprNafok
— Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) September 19, 2025
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Homebound marks both a personal and artistic milestone for Ghaywan and includes a stellar cast and acclaimed producers, including Martin Scorsese.
Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound premieres at Cannes 2025
Homebound, which is Neeraj Ghaywan’s latest Hindi-language drama, recently premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Following the end of the screening, the film drew applause and a nine-minute standing ovation. The film is set against the backdrop of rural India and explores the fraying bond of childhood friends divided by caste and political tension.
It stars Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, and Janhvi Kapoor in leading roles, with producers like Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra. Most notably, Homebound also features Martin Scorsese as an executive producer. The film screened at Cannes under the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section alongside major international titles.
Neeraj Ghaywan biography and age
Neeraj Ghaywan is a renowned Indian filmmaker who was born in 1980 in Hyderabad to Maharashtrian parents in a Dalit family. His father worked as a research scientist while his mother was a garment store owner and he has three elder sisters. Neeraj is currently 45 years old and has carved a unique path in Indian cinema, going from engineering and corporate life to becoming one of the country’s most respected film directors.
Education
Neeraj Ghaywan attended Kendriya Vidyalaya Shivrampally for his early schooling and later graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, in 2002. After completing his graduation, he pursued an MBA in Marketing from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune.
Career and Works
Neeraj Ghaywan started out his career in the corporate sector, with various roles at UTV New Media, Hindustan Times, and Tech Mahindra. However, his passion for cinema eventually led him to write film criticism, and renowned filmmaker Anurag Kashyap seemingly recognized Ghaywan’s talent and gave him an active role in the making of Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Ugly (2013). Ghaywan then went on to make his directorial debut with the short film Independence and then directed the critically acclaimed Shor and Epiphany.
He made his feature debut with Masaan (2015), which premiered at Cannes ‘Un Certain Regard.’ The film won the Fipresci Prize and Promising Future Award and served as the launching pad for both his career and lead actor Vicky Kaushal. Later in 2021, Ghaywan contributed Geeli Pucchi to the Netflix anthology Ajeeb Daastaans, which is a segment widely regarded as the anthology’s most impactful. Now with his latest film, Homebound, Ghaywan takes a bold step, immersing his cast in rural life and workshops to ensure authenticity.
Wife and Children
There is currently no available information about Neeraj Ghaywan’s marital status or whether he has children. Despite his fame and success, he maintains a relatively private personal life.
Neeraj Ghaywan has an Instagram account under the handle @neeraj.ghaywan, where he has over 54.7K followers and 175 posts.
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