Director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound (2025) being shortlisted at the 98th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category marked a moment of pride for producer Karan Johar. Yet, the excitement came with a sobering reality: mounting an Oscar campaign is a demanding process.

In a recent interview with PeepingMoon, Karan revealed, “I told Adar (Poonawalla, his business partner in Dharma Productions) that doing an Oscar campaign will cost money, and sometimes it’s a bottomless pit, because you don’t know whether you will even make to the shortlist of 15 and then five.“

He elaborated on the scale of the effort involved: “You have to employ publicists, pay for travel and do media and screenings abroad. But Adar said let’s do everything in our capacity. Let’s not think of profit and loss on this one. Let’s think of passion over any monetary benefit.”

The 53-year-old added, “That’s what we did. It’s not a money making exercise for us. It is about credibility, we will do other films for survival, but Homebound was always a passion project. There is no monetary game in that film.”