'Lion' trivia and fun facts
Recreating the moment
The director, Garth Davis, got very involved with the Saroo's story, y he want to respect as much as posible the real facts. Thereupon, they were faithful even in the locations; they travelled to India and visited Kolkota (Calcutta) and the originary Saroo's town. His birth family visited the set in many times, and there was where his biological mother and his adoptive mother met each other. Futhermore, the director says that shooting in Kolkata (Calcutta) was not an easy task because of the amount of people and pollution, but the story required shooting at key points like the central station or the Hugli River, a tributary of the Ganges, where the production department had to ferry the whole team through the narrow canals of the flower market.
Child's casting
One of the biggest challenges was finding an Indian boy who played the character of Saroo at age five. According to one of the producers, Angie Fielder, they tested thousands of children from a lot of Indian cities. Those who stood out for the paper were recorded and the tapes were sent to Australia. Later, Australian casting director Kirsty McGregor and screenwriter Miranda Harcourt went specifically to India to work with the selected children. Among them was the brilliant Sunny Pawar, who was finally selected to play the little Saroo. Sunny was everything that the director was looking for in the child; his naturalness and his gaze are the most beautiful elements that we can see in the film.
A real story
The trip that Saroo Brierley starts for find his birth family es absolutely real. That story was narrated in his book, "A long way home", where he describes his experience.
Producer's War
The Saroo's story was so incredible that there was a war of bids to get the rights about the story and the original book.