Neeraj Ghayawan excludes Pratik Shah from Homebound celebratory post amid sexual misconduct allegations

Neeraj Ghayawan excludes Pratik Shah in social media post

Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound has been selected for the official entry for the Oscars 2026. The film has already made waves at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Cannes Film Festival, and now won big at the Academy Awards.

However, the filmmaker celebrated the success of the film and praised the whole cast and crew, except one. Neeraj’s social media post about Homebound has garnered attention for leaving out cinematographer Pratik Shah's name amid ongoing reports of sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Neeraj posted a review of the movie on Instagram after releasing the trailer. He wrote in the caption of the post, “‘Let everything happen to you. Beauty and Terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.’”

He continued, “Presenting the trailer of our film Homebound. In cinemas on 26th September. Here are the wonderful people who were part of this Homebound journey.”

The director tagged the actors and crew in the post, but Pratik, who was identified as the cinematographer in the end credits of the trailer, was left out.

Pratik has recently been accused of inappropriate behaviour.

Filmmaker Abhinav Singh has recently claimed that Pratik, who is well-known for his work on CTRL and Jubilee, was accused by more than 20 women of transgressing professional boundaries during sexually suggestive conversations.

Additionally, the Indian Women Cinematographers' Collective (IWCC) had previously flagged him after a young cinematographer told a senior member about inappropriate advances. According to reports, he was also removed from the upcoming biopic about Sourav Ganguly following the allegations.

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In response, the producers of Homebound, Dharma Productions, issued a statement and suggested that the company maintain a zero-tolerance policy against inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment towards anyone associated with their projects. They also stated that they take such cases very seriously.

The production house also clarified that Pratik Shah had worked on Homebound as a freelancer for a limited period, and his collaboration with them had ended. Additionally, the internal POSH committee had not received any complaints against him from the cast or crew.