After making waves at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Homebound is all set to take the OTT world by storm. Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, Homebound is the story of two friends from different communities who struggle hard to get government jobs but their life changes after COVID wave strikes.
Made the Dharma Productions, Homebound is a true story inspired by a 2020 New York Times essay by an Indian journalist named Basharat Peer, titled Taking Amrit Home , later retitled A Friendship, a Pandemic and a Death Beside the Highway.
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Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, the movie features Ishaan Khatter playing Mohammad Saiyub and Vishal Jethwa plays the character of Chandan Kumar (Amrit Kumar in real life). Since the movie is based on Basharat Peer's written 2020 New York Times essay, it is also based on true events.
As per Hindu, Basharat Peer came across a grainy photograph on X of Mohammad Saiyub, and Amrit Kumar sitting on a patch of burned earth by the side of a highway in Madhya Pradesh.
Peer was quoted saying, "In the punishing May heat, Saiyub cradled Amrit, his friend, who had collapsed from heatstroke. They were trying to reach their village in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh, which was around 1500 kilometres from Surat in Gujarat, where they worked in textile factories.”
It happened during the COVID lockdown period.
Mohammad Saiyub and Amrit Kumar were childhood friends from Deori village in Basti, Uttar Pradesh. They worked together at a weaving unit in Surat before losing jobs during the 2020 lockdown.
Their story drew national attention after a roadside image showed Saiyub holding Amrit’s head while trying to cool his fever with a wet cloth as they were stranded off a truck during their attempt to get home.
On May 14, 2020, both paid to ride a crowded truck from Surat toward Uttar Pradesh; Amrit developed severe breathing trouble and was forced to alight by other passengers fearing COVID, with Saiyub getting off to stay with him.
Amrit was taken to Shivpuri District Hospital and died around 11 pm on May 15, 2020.
Saiyub did not return to Surat after Amrit’s death. As per reports, after working on his family farm, he left India in 2023 and has been employed on construction sites in Dubai, while staying connected with Amrit’s family and helping during family events.
