Heartbreaking Story of 2 Friends Who Walked Home During Lockdown Is on the Oscars Shortlist
18 December 2025
18 December 2025
Shortlisted as India’s official entry to the Academy Awards, Homebound is inspired by real events from the COVID-19 lockdown — when millions of migrant workers were forced to leave cities and walk back home.
In May 2020, a photograph taken by journalist Basharat Peer went viral. It showed one young man sitting on the roadside, holding his critically ill friend on his lap during the migrant exodus.
The men in the photograph were Mohammad Saiyub and Amrit Kumar, childhood friends from the small village of Devari in Uttar Pradesh, who had travelled to Surat for work.
Like millions of young Indians, Saiyub and Amrit believed a stable government job could change their lives. They were among 2.5 million aspirants competing for just 3,500 police jobs.
In March 2020, factories shut overnight. Transport stopped. With no income and no way back, the two friends joined the long march home — on foot, on trucks, on hope.
Days of walking, heat, hunger, and dehydration took their toll. During one stretch of the journey, Amrit fell dangerously ill. But Saiyub refused to leave his side.
Amrit was taken to the hospital in Madhya Pradesh, where he later passed away from dehydration. Saiyub stayed and ensured his friend was taken home, even in death.
Basharat Peer later chronicled their journey in his 2020 New York Times essay, 'Taking Amrit Home'. That essay became the emotional foundation for Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound.
Backed by Dharma Productions and executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Homebound premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Homebound carries a story of India to the global stage — reminding us that behind every statistic is a human bond that refused to break.