Lion’s True Story of an Unlikely Homecoming

4 minute read

It’s the kind of tale that would be unbelievable if it weren’t true: a young boy gets lost on the streets of Kolkata and lands in an orphanage, where he is adopted by an Australian family. Nearly two decades later, he tracks down his birth family in a remote Indian village by using Google Earth.

Yet it happened to Saroo Brierley, who told the story in his 2013 memoir A Long Way Home, which inspired the new film Lion, out Nov. 25. The British actor Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) says he responded instantly to the way themes of family and identity were explored in the script. “It took me 10 years to land a role like this,” he says.

Patel spent months prepping for the film, traveling to India to retrace Brierley’s trip and visiting orphanages like the one Brierley stayed at as a child. Along the way, Patel found similarities between Brierley’s story and his own, especially when it came to their shared Indian heritage. “He’s more an Aussie than he is an Indian, so he goes back there like an alien,” Patel says. “There was a lot I related to in having connections to a country but rediscovering your culture and history.”

Patel’s turn in the role has generated awards-season buzz. But the most meaningful review might be the one from the real-life Brierley, who says, “I don’t think there’s a person out there that could have done a better job.”

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Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com