Lion

Director: Garth Davis Garth Davis

Overview

In this adaptation of the memoir A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley, a five-year-old Indian boy is adopted by an Australian couple after he gets lost in Calcutta. Years later, he struggles with his memories of his birth family, and decides to begin a search for them. Dev Patel stars as the adult Brierley in this drama directed by Garth Davis. Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, and Rooney Mara co-star.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/11/2017
UPC:	0013132640440
Original Release:	2016
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:58:00
Sales rank:	40,373

Special Features

Deleted Scenes; Behind the Scenes Gallery; "Never Give Up" Performed by Sia - Official Lyric Video

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sunny Pawar	Young Saroo
Abhishek Bharate	Guddu
Priyanka Bose	Kamla
Khushi Solanki	Young Shekila
Shankar Nisode	Shankar
Tannishtha Chatterjee	Noor
Nawazuddin Siddiqui	Rama
Riddhi Sen	Café Man,Police Official
Rita Roy	Amita(as Rita Boy)
Uday Shankar Paul	Liluah Teacher
Surojit Das	Shonedeep/Haunted Boy,Sami
Deepti Naval	Mrs. Sood
Menik Gooneratne	Swarmina
David Wenham	John Brierley
Nicole Kidman	Sue Brierley
Keshav Jadhav	Young Mantosh
Dev Patel	Saroo Brierley
Benjamin Rigby	Waiter
Divian Ladwa	Mantosh Brierley
Todd Sampson	Provost
Rooney Mara	Lucy
Daniela Farinacci	Tutor
Pallavi Sharda	Prama
Sachin Joab	Bharat
Emilie Cocquerel	Annika
Vinod Chauhan	Merchant
Dustin O'Halloran	Composer
Hauschka O'Halloran	Composer

Technical Credits

Saroo Brierley

Luke Davies

Saroo Brierley	Screenwriter
Luke Davies	Screenwriter
Garth Davis	Director
David Glasser	Executive Producer
Daniel Levin	Executive Producer
Bob Weinstein	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Iain Canning	Producer
Angie Fielder	Producer
Emile Sherman	Producer
Andrew Fraser	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

Lion is the true story of an Indian man named Saroo who, as a five-year-old boy in 1986, is separated from his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) late one night at a railway station, and ends up on a deserted, decommissioned train headed to Calcutta, nearly 1000 miles away from his home in central India. There, Saroo finds himself surrounded by bustling hordes of strangers who speak a language he doesn't understand. Making things worse, he doesn't know his own last name or the correct pronunciation of the town where his impoverished family live. He wanders Calcutta's crowded streets (where he's rudely treated or ignored), searches and begs for food, sleeps on a thin piece of cardboard in a dingy tunnel, and escapes human traffickers. He eventually winds up in a harshly run juvenile facility that resembles a prison and then an orphanage, but he's finally adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham, both excellent) who take him to their home in Tasmania, where he adjusts -- literally -- to a whole new world. It's a fascinating journey of Dickensian proportions, and it's made all the more captivating by newcomer Sunny Pawar, who delivers a tender, powerful performance as the young Saroo. Unfortunately, Pawar disappears at Lion's midway point when the narrative suddenly leaps forward 20 years, after which Saroo is played by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire fame. No offense to Patel, but the adult version of this character isn't nearly as interesting as his younger self. The grown-up Saroo moves to Melbourne to study hotel management and falls for a cute American classmate named Lucy (an underused Rooney Mara). He also becomes obsessed with finding his birth mother (he apparently never knew his estranged father), using Google Earth as his guide in an attempt to pinpoint his hometown that takes several years. However, that app, as remarkable as it is, doesn't make for great cinema. It ultimately renders Saroo's search mostly inert, and leaves him and the audience feeling sluggish. Occasional flashbacks featuring Pawar briefly lift the movie's latter stages, but they aren't enough to overcome the second half's flat tone. Just when Lion should build in intensity and find its roar, it meanders. Thankfully, director Garth Davis (Top of the Lake) and screenwriter Luke Davies (adapting Saroo Brierley's memoir A Long Way Home) correct course in the film's waning minutes when Saroo finally locates his hometown and flies there. He brings a picture of his younger self and shows it to locals while making inquiries about his mother. No spoilers here as to what he then discovers and the impact it has on him, but just be warned that a handy supply of tissues is recommended.