Pic: Richard Malone’s pic of Saroo and his birth mum, Kamla
>blockquote>… Twenty-five years after he had left he was standing right in front of the tiny one-room shack that had been his home. It was abandoned. It was over. His family were gone; maybe they were dead. Devastation.
But then a man walked over who spoke English. He said, “Come with me I will take you to your mother.”
And there she was, staring at him in wonderment, screaming, crying. “I was looking at her, just staring at her eyes and face. And I just couldn’t believe that this was real. It was the dream I had been having. Time stood still. It was like you couldn’t feel anything, your mind was numb. It was like a nuclear fusion, really. It was too much to take in.” His name was actually Sheru, he discovered: Hindi for lion.
The film of Saroo’s life had a premiere screening at an industry function on the Gold Coast in October. Saroo and Sue were there. It is powerful, visceral, moving. There is Oscar buzz. Dev Patel, who plays the adult Saroo, is winning acting awards at international film festivals, as is Nicole Kidman …
Susan Chenery, The Saturday Paper
