“Lion” movie
This adaptation of the true story of Saroo Brierley – lost as a child in Khandwa, India, and eventually adopted by an Australian couple.
In 1986, five-year-old Saroo and his brother Guddu steal coal from freight trains to trade for milk and food.
Saroo accompanies Guddu to work overnight, and they arrive at a nearby train station, where Saroo falls asleep on a bench. When he wakes up he cannot find Guddu. He searches for him on an empty train, only to fall asleep and when he wakes up the train is moving and the doors locked.
After several days, the train arrives in faraway Calcutta, where Saroo does not understand the local Bengali language . Speaking Hindi rather than Bengali, he quickly learns the rules of survival from watching other street children. One of them mutely passes him a piece of torn cardboard to sleep on. The kids are driven that night from their patch by police, Saroo goes back later to collect his cardboard and carries it, neatly folded under his arm, his one and only possession.
Finally, Saroo is taken to the police and placed into an orphanage when authorities are unable to trace his family.
An advertisement about Saroo is placed in several local newspapers, but no one responds. An Australian couple. Sue and John Brierley eventually adopt him.
Twenty years later, Saroo, now a young man, moves to Melbourne. Having a meal with some Indian friends and reveals he was separated from his birth family more than twenty years ago. His friends suggested he use Google Earth to search for his hometown.
One night Saroo recognizes the rock formations where his mother worked and finds the area where he lived.
Saroo returns to his hometown and has an emotional reunion with his biological mother and sister. He is heartbroken to learn that Guddu was hit and killed by a train the same night they were separated. His mother remained in the village for the 25 years since he went missing because she never gave up hope that he would return one day. In addition to mispronouncing the name of his village, Saroo learns that he also mispronounced his own name as a child, as his biological parents named him not “Saroo”, but “Sheru”, meaning “lion“.
Saroo returns to his hometown and has an emotional reunion with his biological mother and sister. He is heartbroken to learn that Guddu was hit and killed by a train the same night they were separated. His mother remained in the village for the 25 years since he went missing because she never gave up hope that he would return one day. In addition to mispronouncing the name of his village, Saroo learns that he also mispronounced his own name as a child, as his biological parents named him not “Saroo”, but “Sheru”, meaning “lion“.