Lion - A fitting title for a brave child

Lion, directed by Garth Davis is a documentary based on true events that happened in the life of Saroo Brierly. Saroo Brierly is an Indian who ends up in Australia due to an unfortunate chain of events.

The movie starts off in Khandwa, his hometown where saroo and his elder brother Guddu spend their day by stealing coal from trains and exchange them for milk and money. Saroo also has a sister named Shekila and we get a glimpse of his mother. An unlucky incident separates Saroo from his family and he ends up in Kolkata in the process. We see all the disturbing incidents and experiences this 7 year old kid goes through and how smart he is to evade every turn of bad luck.

Finally, luck favors Saroo, as an Australian couple show interest in adopting him. After getting introduced to their characters we come to realise how good natured and kind they are. Nicole Kidman manages to steal the show yet again by showing so much love and affection she has for the boy, treating his burdens as her own, and making sure the child feels safe. For the first time, we see Saroo completely putting his faith on someone and trusting them completely.

At an instant, without any more nonsense just when we think that the movie might be dragging a bit, his life is fast forwarded by about 20 years and Dev Patel takes over as Saroo. Saroo is now a young lad and Dev nails the Australian accent, doing a bloody good job of portraying young Saroo. He then goes on to finally meet his future girlfriend, Rooney Mara who was his classmate in college with him. The love between these two is so beautiful and Lucy (Rooney Mara) is so supportive of him and his dreams. There's a part in the movie where they play Urvashi in the background, by AR Rahman which just made me go nuts and gave me goosebumps.

Saroo is at his friend's place where a certain food item suddenly takes him 20 back with his brother Guddu where he asks for the same item. He goes into a nervous breakdown and there's a growing urge in him to find his mother and his family. After years of struggling to find where he's from, Saroo finally has some luck in finding his hometown using the idea suggested by one of his friends.

Once again, we see a very emotion heavy scene featuring Nicole and Dev Patel, a scene which reminded me of Clark Kent and Martha Kent having a conversation of where he's from in man of steel. Dev Patel finally books his ticket to Kolkata back to his country, with a desperation to find his hometown.

With a few old memories in mind, a few buildings near his house and the place where he lost his family, Saroo connects the dots and finds his way back home, only to realise that his house has been demolished and altered. With the help of someone who speaks English, Saroo is finally reunited with his mother who was until that day, still waiting and still searching for her son and that's were the emotions go over the roof. This is finally where Priyanka Bose, who played Kamala (Saroo's mother) finally managed to show her talents. 

Throughout the movie, we are given a mind blowing performance by little Sunny Pawar who steals the show every single scene he's in. The makers of the movie took a huge risk, something these documentary films don't do so often, giving more than 30 minutes of screen time for his flashback and I would say it more than paid off. The love he showed towards his mother is so pure. I'm sure Sunny Pawar is going to have a huge role in all the upcoming Hollywood films in the coming years. Top marks for the director and cute little Sunny Pawar. There were times where he was better than Nicole Kidman herself. One more thing which might go unnoticed, is the beautiful,  heartwarming and sometimes haunting soundtrack this movie had.

The only complaint I have is why Hollywood is always trying to show the worst parts about India. They did it with slumdog millionaire and now they did it here. They show how unsafe the streets are and how tricky the people are. It would be nice if they showed what a beautiful country India is and how caring and loving some people are. To me, personally it has changed my attitude toward the homeless children and will definitely change my opinion before I judge another child coming to me trying to sell books or flowers in a signal. I hope it is an eye-opener for everyone who watches it. The evil those kids face everyday, and how easily they get tricked, it's just sad.

Definitely one of the best documentaries I've ever scene, a very emotional movie, and the highlight for me will be Sunny Pawar. Deserved all the Oscar nominations it got, would have been a bit more happy if Sunny Pawar also got nominated along with Dev Patel. If moonlight won an oscar and hacksaw ridge didn't, I don't see why Lion couldn't. 

Verdict: 8.5/10

P.S. At the end of the movie we see that Saroo has been mispronouncing his real name, Sheroo, hence the name of the movie.