Indian filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan is thanking to the legendary director Martin Scorsese for lending a gentle guiding hand in shaping his film Homebound .

As the film’s executive producer and a mentor to Ghaywan, Scorsese helped him find the focus he needed to make his story — which explores India’s caste system — and its characters come to cinematic life, Ghaywan explained during his film’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles. Homebound ’s lead actors Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa also were on hand Saturday.

“[Scorsese] started out with reading the script, and he told me how to go about it,” Ghaywan explained. “We did a back-and-forth, and then again at the end stage he saw the first cut, and then he did a couple of rounds and he would guide with every step. … I

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