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\n Mohammad Saiyub (above, in a Mumbai quarter on a February day) appeared in a photo that went viral in the early days of the pandemic. He and his childhood buddy Amrit Kumar were hitching home, a journey of nearly 1,000 miles. Kumar, who is a Hindu Dalit, fell ill. Saiyub, a Muslim, cradled his friend by the roadside. Their different religious identities drew attention in a country where communal relations have been polarized after a decade of Hindu nationalist rule. The photo and the story behind it inspired the award-winning movie Homebound<\/em>. Diaa Hadid\/NPR<\/p>\n <\/b> toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n <\/div>\n <\/p>\n Diaa Hadid\/NPR<\/p>\n <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n DEVARI, India \u2014 The legendary Martin Scorsese was the movie’s executive producer although his role was kept secret to ensure the film crew could keep working without attracting media attention. He was even assigned a code name: “elder brother.”<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n That’s because Neeraj Ghaywan, director of Homebound, <\/em>didn’t want to go public with his movie until it was ready. He worried its central story might be received with hostility by Indian media \u2014 by a country \u2014 profoundly changed by a decade of rule by the e Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, known as the BJP.<\/p>\n
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