Summary: Dev Patel (actor), Sunny Pawar (actor) and special guest Saroo Brierley (author/film subject) at The Landmark in West Los Angeles. Moderated by journalist Andrew Warne. Film synopsis: In the heart-wrenching drama Lion, five-year-old Saroo (wonderfully played by Sunny Pawar) gets lost on a train that takes him thousands of miles away from his home and family, ending up bewildered and afraid in chaotic Kolkata (Calcutta). Somehow he survives living on the streets, before finding shelter in an orphanage that is itself not exactly a safe haven. Eventually Saroo is adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman, David Wenham), and finds love and security as he grows up in Hobart. Not wanting to hurt his adoptive parents’ feelings, Saroo (Dev Patel, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Slumdog Millionaire) suppresses his past, his emotional need for reunification and his hope of ever finding his lost mother and brother. But a chance meeting with some fellow Indians reawakens his buried yearning. With just a small store of memories, his unwavering determination, and the help of a new technology called Google Earth, Saroo embarks on one of the greatest needle-in-a-haystack quests of modern times. The true story of a life lost and found, Lion also stars Rooney Mara.
