Vishal Jethwa Recalls He And Ishaan Khatter Lose 10 Kgs For Their Role In Homebound; Shares Aditya Chopra’s Guru Mantra

Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound has been selected as India’s official entry for the 2026 Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category. Produced by Dharma Productions, the film features Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor. At the press conference for Homebound, actor Vishal Jethwa opened up about the intense preparation he and co-star Ishaan Khatter went through for their roles. He revealed that both of them lost around 10 kilos each to physically fit into their characters.

Vishal Jethwa On His Intense Preparation For Homebound

Vishal also shared a valuable piece of advice he received from producer Aditya Chopra. He said, “For this character, I used one Guru Mantra which Aditya (Chopra) told me, to surrender myself to my director. This is what I did here in Homebound, too. Neeraj Ghaywan, sir, has researched a lot about the film. I don’t think so, one has so much depth in the knowledge, that is why people believe in his films. We have received the same response in TIFF, Cannes. With this film, he created a journey for us, and whatever he said, Janhvi, Janhvi and Janhvi followed through out. Whatever was possible from my end, I did, physically agar mei Kahu toh mai 9-10 kilo weight kaam kiya, Ishaan did 10 kgs too”

Speaking about the emotional preparation, Vishal said he went to great lengths to connect with his character. He visited the village where the real-life inspirations for his role, Chandan Kumar and Sohaib Ali, used to live. He stayed there, ate the local food, and learned how the locals speak to bring authenticity to his performance.

Homebound has already received praise at prestigious film festivals like TIFF and Cannes, and Vishal credits the film’s impact to Neeraj Ghaywan’s detailed storytelling and the team’s full dedication.

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Homebound At TIFF

Recently, Homebound was screened at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where it received a standing ovation. The film was also the second runner-up in the 2025 International People’s Choice Award category at the festival.

About Homebound

Homebound is directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. It stars Janhvi, Ishaan, and Vishal in lead roles. It will be shown in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. The film is gaining international attention, especially because legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese is the executive producer. The film is produced by Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra. The co-producers are Marijke de Souza and Melita Toscan Du Plantier. Neeraj’s last Cannes film, Masaan, was also shown in the same section back in 2015.

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Also Read: Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa-Janhvi Kapoor Starrer Homebound Is India’s Official Entry For Oscars 2026- Deets Inside

Grinell Jacinto

With nearly 10 years of experience, Grinell Esther Jacinto is the Desk Head of Bollywood Bubble. Her interests lie in everything that is kaleshi and she loves to dig deeper into the lives of B-town actors. She has a problem though – she loves horror films but will have chills the minute the theatres lights dims. She’s previously worked with Koimoi, UrbanAsian and SpotboyE.