Lion

Lion is intended to be a moving tribute to the 80,000 children who manage to get lost in the streets of India every year.  Based on the autobiography ‘A Long Way Home’ by Saroo Briesley, the film begins in Khandwa (MP) in 1986, when five-year-old undernourished Saroo (essayed by eight-year old debutant Sunny Pawar), after a misunderstanding with older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), gets estranged from his brother and mother (Priyanka Bose) and lands up in Calcutta — a good 1600 km away.

A few unsavoury incidents later (minuscule roles by Tannishtha Chatterjee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui), the benevolence of one Mrs. Sood (Deepti Naval) sees the young Saroo being adopted by a Tasmanian couple Sue and John Briesley (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) who  immediately thereafter adopt another boy Mantosh (British actor Divian Ladwa).

Jump cut to 2010 when the strappling Saroo (Dev Patel), now with a mane and an Australian accent, during a get-together with university friends, eyes a plate of ‘jalebis’.  This elicits a flood of memories when, back home , he had asked his brother Guddu for one, but penury had denied them the luxury.

A longing to meet up with his family gets Saroo hooked on to Google Earth ( a pretty lively brand endorsement for it too) and spends a good couple of years before he locates what he thinks is his birthplace in Ganesh Talai and visits it.

With an extremely potent first half, Lion is an intensely moving —   and sentimental true story, told through the eyes and perspective of a five-year-old boy whose later journey through life was materially luxurious but emotionally taxing.

Rooney Mara as Saroo’s girlfriend Lucy seems wasted in a non-too-significant role, but astute direction by Garth Davis, in his debut directorial feature, along with a great background score by Dustin O’Halloran makes the film a compulsive watch.  Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actors (Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel), and stellar performances by the young Sunny Pawar, Kidman and Patel makes Lion an A-lister.

Be prepared to shed at least a tear or two!