Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2016 Australian biographical drama
film called, Lion. Spoiler’s ahead. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the video.
The movie begins in Khandwa, India, in the year 1986. A little boy who goes by the name
Saroo runs up to a field where there are many yellow butterflies flying around. He hears his
older brother, Guddu, calling for him. They run to catch up to a freight train that transports coal.
The two brothers manage to get on it. Guddu climbs up as Saroo holds tightly by the side.
They begin to steal coal as the freight train moves along.
Not long after, the two boys go to the market to trade the stolen coal for two packets of milk.
While waiting, Saroo sees some street vendors cooking jalebi, a local dish,
which he asks his brother to buy. They begin to imagine buying a shop that makes the delicacy.
Afterwards, they bring the milk to their home where they live with their mother
and little sister, Shekila. Their mother puts their milk in bowls and serves them.
Saroo, being the charming and sweet little boy, offers some milk to his mother.
She then leaves to go to work and asks Saroo to take care of their little sister.
Hours later, Guddu proceeds to go to his night job, but Saroo insists on going with him as their
little sister sleeps. Guddu refuses and then Saroo begins lifting random heavy objects to
prove that he can help his big brother at work. The big brother finally changes his mind and
brings his little brother along with him. That night, they travel by train to their
destination. Saroo falls asleep as his big brother carries him. Upon arriving at their stop,
Guddu tries to wake his little brother up, but Saroo is just too sleepy. Guddu places Saroo on
a bench and tells him to wait for him to return. Saroo agrees and promptly falls back asleep.
Hours later, Saroo wakes up from his nap on the bench. He realizes that his big brother
isn’t back yet. The little boy is alone in the train station as he looks at two gigantic water
tanks in front of him. He calls out to his big brother but there isn’t any response.
Saroo starts walking and finds himself on an empty train to continue looking for his big brother.
He falls in one of the compartments. Sometime later, he wakes up and comes to find that the
train is in motion and the doors are locked. He tries his best to scream for his big brother,
but to no avail. He reaches a train stop and asks for help from the people outside,
but no one seems to be able to understand what he is saying.
Several days later, the train arrives in Calcutta. Several miles away from where he originally
boarded. He doesn’t understand the local Bengali language but still tries to find his way back to
his big brother. He stands at a ticket counter and tries to obtain a ticket home, but the attendant
does not recognize the name of his village as this five-year-old continuously says, “Ganestalay”.
He gets pushed around by older people to leave the ticket counter. Lost, alone, and hungry, he finds
a faucet and gets a drink from the tap water. He sees another little girl who seems to be lost,
also taking a drink. He proceeds to follow the little girl all the way to the station.
There, he sees a group of street children lying on cardboard boxes. He sits on the opposite side
and stares at them. One boy in particular notices him and decides to put a cardboard
box right next to him. Saroo smiles at the gesture of the little boy and goes to him.
He lies next to the little boy as they face each other. Saroo closes his eyes and falls asleep.
Not long after, Saroo wakes up from the sound of screaming children. He is forced to run
upon witnessing a group of men trying to kidnap the children. He runs to a gate that is halfway
closed as a police officer smokes and watches him get chased by a man. Saroo continues to run
for his life and makes his way to a bridge. He sees a place lit with so many candles.
The little boy goes to that place just below the bridge and finds people snoring and fast asleep.
He goes to the statue of Durga, a Hindu Goddess, and proceeds to pray. Afterwards, he takes a few
pieces of food from the offering and goes behind the statue to eat and eventually falls asleep.
He wakes up from the sound of people behind the statue of Durga,
praying and chanting. He goes back to the station where he saw the street children the night before
and proceeds to get his cardboard box. Saroo continues to wander around the city
and then comes across Noor. This seemingly friendly woman tries talking to him and realizes
that he only speaks Hindi. Noor takes Saroo back to her apartment and feeds, bathes, and clothes
the little boy. That night, Noor tells Saroo that a man named Rama will help him find his way home.
She cuddles with Saroo and puts him to sleep. The next morning, Saroo wakes up to find Rama.
The strange man inspects him for a little bit and afterwards,
tells Noor that Saroo is just what they are looking for. Moments later, Saroo senses that
Noor and Rama have some sinister intentions and manages to escape Noor when she chases after him.
Saroo finds his way to the Howrah Bridge and lives under it for two months. Then one day, a young man
notices him from outside a restaurant. He realizes that Saroo is copying his actions as he eats.
Not long after, the young man goes out and tries to speak to the lost little Saroo.
The young man from the restaurant takes Saroo to the police and tells them about his situation.
Unable to trace his family, the police officer takes a picture of him and puts him in an
orphanage. Saroo is then brought to an orphanage where a hundred more children are placed.
There he meets a little girl who tells him that it’s a bad place.
Three months pass and Saroo gets to meet Mrs. Sood. She tells him that she has
placed an advertisement about him in several local newspapers, but no one has responded.
Afterwards, she tells Saroo that an Australian couple is interested in adopting him.
Mrs. Sood begins to show him pictures of the Australian couple,
Sue and John Brierley. She tells him about how they live in Tasmania in Australia as
she proceeds to show Saroo pictures of the couple, and their lovely home.
Then she gives him the picture of the couple to the little boy to hold on to.
Mrs. Sood begins to teach a group of children, including Saroo, basic English to help them. Soon
after, he rides a plane to Hobart, Tasmania. There, Saroo meets the beautiful Australian
couple who begins to introduce themselves as his parents as they give him a stuffed Koala doll.
Saroo is culture shocked about being in a completely different place.
But soon after, he slowly begins to settle into his new adopted lifestyle. Sue and John teach
him many things, including how to play cricket. One year later, Sue, John, and Saroo wait for
another boy to arrive as Saroo shows his parents a drawing of the three of them.
There, they meet Mantosh. They give him a stuffed Kangaroo doll and the drawing that
Saroo made. Mantosh has trouble adjusting to his new home and suffers from rage and self-harm.
Sue finds it difficult to see little Mantosh having trouble adapting. One night, Saroo is
awoken by the sight of Sue crying. The little boy goes up to her and tries to make her feel better.
His adoptive mom feels blessed for having the chance to meet and have Saroo in her life.
Twenty years later, Saroo is now a young man. He meets with his parents in a restaurant
and they talk about his moving to Melbourne to study hotel management.
Mantosh, not being able to live up to his brother’s standards, doesn’t show up to the
gathering. Sue and Saroo get into a heated argument as they proceed with their meal.
Soon after, Saroo goes to visit Mantosh in his home and warns him about not being a problem to
their mother as Mantosh’s actions continue to worry Sue. Mantosh condescends Saroo, but Saroo
brushes it off and continues to warn his brother. In Melbourne, Saroo meets an American student
named Lucy. They develop a connection and later begin a romantic relationship with each other.
One day, they go to their Indian friends’ place as they have a meal together.
Saroo volunteers to get more beer in the kitchen for his friends and girlfriend.
Upon turning around, he spots a plate of jalebi and suddenly gets a flashback
of him with his brother in the market in India as they talk about getting jalebis.
Moments later, Saroo reveals to his friends that he is really not from Calcutta, and that he has
been lost for more than twenty years. He and his friends get comfortable in the living room
as Saroo tells them his story of how he got lost two decades ago. His friends suggest he use Google
Earth to search for his hometown in India. Saroo commences his search as he computes
for how far he might have traveled from his hometown to Calcutta. Two years later,
Saroo doesn’t stop his endless search and is still determined in finding his family’s location.
One night, he visits his family’s home with Lucy and they have dinner. As Lucy is about to tell
Saroo’s parents about his search, Saroo stops her from saying anything more. He doesn’t want to let
his parents know about what he is doing because he feels it might disappoint his adoptive parents.
The dinner gets a little awkward. Then Mantosh makes the situation worse by
condescending his brother once again. In return, Saroo insults him in front of everyone. Mantosh,
still unable to move on from his self-infliction, starts hitting
himself on the head and tries to attack Saroo, but thankfully is stopped by their father.
Over time, Saroo continues to disconnect from Lucy. Saroo begins to feel overwhelmed by
the thought of emotions his family must have gone through when he was missing.
Because of this, he ends his relationship with Lucy as he feels that she deserves better.
Months pass and Saroo is nowhere near discovering his hometown.
One day, as he rides the escalator going up, he comes across Lucy. They catch up on each
other as Lucy tells him that his adoptive mom’s health continues to deteriorate.
Saroo visits his mom and learns that she is not infertile. Sue tells him about her childhood
and how she and John have always chosen to help others in need through adoption.
They both believe that there are already too many people on Earth. That is when Saroo learns
to change the way he sees Mantosh and he decides to visit his place one day to ask for an apology.
One evening, Saroo continues to scan through Google Earth.
He proceeds to go farther from the initial radius he is searching for.
He then spots a part of the map just after the line and gets a flashback of him running to
the fields when he was young. He remembers the meadow filled with yellow butterflies.
He scans further and finds the places he used to run along to get to his home.
He gets flashbacks of himself as he examines further and finds the area where he lived.
He sees a neighborhood just outside of the Khandwa district called Ganesh Talai. He realizes
that it's his hometown. Saroo finds comfort in remembering the exact turns to where he lived.
Saroo visits Lucy’s home early in the morning and tells her about him finding his home.
Lucy is ecstatic to hear the news and hugs Saroo. He asks her to wait
for him as he goes to visit his hometown in India.
Not long after, Saroo brings his parents to his flat and shows him the maps posted on
his board. He finally tells his adoptive mom about his search and she tells him that she
fully supports his efforts. She hopes that Saroo really does get to find his hometown
so he can show him that he’s safe and that he has grown into the man that he is now.
Saroo flies back to Khandwa, India and checks into a hotel. He decides to take a walk and
finds himself following the tracks from where he used to run as a kid. He walks along the way as he
gets flashbacks of the places. He finally reaches Ganesh Talai and makes his way to his old home.
He is shocked to find his old home is now a make-shift barn for goats.
He is devastated and begins to lose hope. A woman carrying a baby sees him. Saroo begins to speak in
English, but the woman doesn’t understand him. A local man who happens to speak in
English notices that he is having a difficult time trying to express himself to the woman.
Saroo shows the man a picture of himself when he was five years old and tells him that he
used to live in that place. The man tells him to follow him as he leads Saroo to his mother.
He begins to feel emotional as he walks up to his mother.
His biological mother recognizes her son and they have an emotional reunion.
He asks about his big brother Guddu and learns that he is no longer alive.
Saroo also gets emotional after seeing his biological sister all grown up and beautiful.
It seems that Saroo’s mother never gave up hope nor did she want to move away from the village
because she had continuously believed that one day, her missing son would return home.
Saroo calls his adoptive parents upon returning back to his hotel.
He tells them about how he safely arrived in India and finally meets his biological family.
He also tells him that his biological mother deeply appreciates Sue's care for her son.
He reassures his adoptive family that despite everything, nothing changes about
his relationship with them. Saroo tells his family that he loves him, including Mantosh.
The movie ends with captions about the real Saroo and his return to Ganesh Talai in Khandwa,
India in February of 2012. It also shows photos of the actual Sue and John Brierley with little Saroo
and little Mantosh. Followed by a footage of Saroo introducing Sue to his biological mother in India.
Saroo later learns that he had been mispronouncing his own name for all those years.
His name is actually pronounced Sheru, which means "lion".