Never imagined my story would go to Oscars: Brierley on Lion

Saroo says the success of the homecoming story is unimaginable and wants it to bring hope to those who may be going through what he did. “For me, more than winning awards, I want the film to penetrate as much as it can for those kids and parents who are going through the same situation. I want those kids to be motivated and inspired, who are vulnerable, not knowing where they are coming from, who their parents are,” he added. 

Born in Madhya Pradesh, Saroo was separated from his poor family — mother, two brothers and sister — and was adopted by an Australian couple from a Kolkata orphanage. While his Australian parents gave him all the love and privilege to lead a good life, he kept on searching for his birth mother and, finally, using Google Earth, met her at Khandwa, after 25 years. 

Asked what made him persist with the search, Saroo said, “I think the love and bonding I share with my real family, affection of my mother, love and bonding with  siblings, drove me to continue the search. I used to think that my brother Guddu is still screaming my name.” 

However, once he was taken to Australia, he gradually got accustomed to Western culture and  forgot his native language Hindi. “You see, I was just five years old then, and had never been to school as we were living in a slum and my mother had no money to send us to school. So, my vocabulary was underdeveloped anyway. When I went to school, in the beginning, for some time I did not understand the language, but slowly I adapted. I was a happy child then,” recalled Saroo. 

“I was quite popular in my school as I was good in sports. I played a lot of games and, as a kid, I never lived in a shelter. Rather, I openly mingled with other kids. So I was quite a normal child in school and never faced any racism.” Once he met his birth mother after 25 years, he wrote a book, A Long Way Home, and then director Garth Davis made the film Lion based on the story. Lion will release in India on February 24.