Homebound has been selected as India's entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards.
Just days after the film was shortlisted for the Oscars, journalist and author Puja Changoiwala has taken legal action against Dharma Productions and Netflix Entertainment Services India, alleging copyright infringement.
Changoiwala is preparing to approach the Bombay High Court, claiming that the film unlawfully draws from her 2021 novel, also titled Homebound.
In an email to the Hindustan Times, she confirmed that her lawyer had already sent a legal notice to the production house prior to initiating formal legal proceedings.
The film hit theatres on September 26, and the creators shared that the story was reportedly inspired by a 2020 New York Times article by Basharat Peer, titled A Friendship, a Pandemic and a Death Beside the Highway.
Peer, in the article, highlights a story about two childhood friends struggling to crack the national police examination amid the chaos of COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Changoiwala has challenged this explanation, arguing that the overlap between her book and the film goes far beyond the common setting.
In an email, she penned that the creators have "blatantly" recreated a significant portion of her novel in the second half of the film, "including its scenes, dialogue, narrative structure, sequence of events, and other creative expressions."
As per the author, she served a legal notice to Dharma Productions on October 15, sharing that the production house did not "acknowledge the violation" in their responses.
She also pointed out that the film's script was developed in 2022, a year after her book had already been published.
