Some movies impact you so much that you keep thinking about them days after seeing them. One such film is Lion (2016), I had heard much about the film before seeing it, I was familiar with the plot when the book it is based on came out a few years back, even then the movie surprised me with its screenplay.
The film is based on a true-life story of a 5-year-old boy who gets lost from his older brother in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh Railway station and ends up in Kolkata after travelling a distance of 1600 Kms alone. There from an orphanage he gets adopted by a couple in Tasmania, Australia. After living happily there for 25 years, his inner urge to find his real family becomes unbearable. Using Google Earth, unlimited patience and his childhood memory he finds his “home” (Ganesh Talai) and gets reunited with his mother.
For a story with such a strong soul-stirring background, I was fearing for a melodramatic film, but Director Garth Davis has produced an engaging watch. Dev Patel as the adult Saroo Brierley and Nicole Kidman as his mother have done their roles brilliantly. But it was the young boy Sunny Pawar who steals our heart. Rooney Mara as Saroo’s girlfriend provides Saroo with the emotional support needed and it’s her role that makes the film from becoming an autobiography.
The movie ends with a message that “over 80,000 children go missing in India each year” and shows an accompanying website from where you can donate for helping these children. I used the site and donated a small sum to ChildLine1098, I will encourage you to check the options.
