True story of 2 friends that inspired Neeraj Ghaywan's 'Homebound'
22 May 2025

In 2020, a picture of two men amid India's first wave of COVID-19 lockdown caught the attention of Basharat Peer, an international opinion editor at The New York Times.

The picture showed a young man cradling his friend, who collapsed due to heatstroke on a highway.

Struck by the powerful image, Peer traveled across Uttar Pradesh to find the men—Mohammad Saiyub and Amrit Kumar.

Their story, published in NYT's Opinion section in July 2020, gave birth to Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound.

Dharma approached Peer a year later
Film adaptation

A year later, Peer was approached by Somen Mishra of Dharma Productions, who wanted the rights to his article.

Mishra revealed filmmaker Ghaywan (Masaan) was inspired by the story, titled Taking Amrit Home, and wanted to adapt it into a film.

The rights for Peer's story belonged to The New York Times, and since Peer had left the newspaper by then, Dharma negotiated with the company directly.

Per NYT's rules, Peer as an ex-employee got no compensation from the deal.

'Homebound' premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2025
Film premiere

Ghaywan's film, Homebound, inspired by Peer's article, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21.

The film stars Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, and Janhvi Kapoor in lead roles. It is produced by Dharma Productions and has the backing of Martin Scorsese as an executive producer.

Although not attending the Cannes premiere, Peer was pleased to see his work adapted into a film.

Peer shared his thoughts on the film adaptation
Peer shared

Peer praised Saiyub and Kumar's dignified journey, telling Aseem Chhabra, "When a truckwalla saw Amrit was coughing, he said, 'He is sick, so it is best to leave him behind.' Saiyub said, 'No, I cannot leave him behind.' When he told me that story, I said to him, 'In this mad world, you're a hero.'"

The article paints the harrowing journey the two friends took while attempting to return home during the lockdown.

Here's a gist of the article
Story

Childhood friends Saiyub and Kumar were traveling from Surat to their village Devari, which is in UP, half an hour away from Ayodhya. Despite paying a travel agent for seats on a special train, they had to brave harsh weather to make the journey in trucks.

But tragedy struck when Kumar started feeling feverish and began coughing.

While other travelers urged them to get down in fear of contracting COVID-19, Saiyub stuck to his best friend, until the end.

Peer informally helped Ghaywan
Script reflection

Peer clarified that while he read the script and informally helped Ghaywan with several aspects, it was ultimately Ghaywan's prerogative as the director.

He acknowledged that the early lives of Saiyub and Kumar were fictionalized in the film.

While Jethwa plays Kumar's role, Khatter is Ghaywan's Saiyub.