‘Lion’ will roar on Oscar night, hopes Kolkata

KOLKATA: If Priyanka Bose, who played Dev Patel’s biological mother in Oscar-nominated “Lion”, is to be believed, Kolkata looked like a “Rembrandt painting” in the film, competing in the Best Cinematography category (Greig Fraser), Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (Luke Davies), Best Supporting Actor (Dev Patel) and Best Supporting Actress (Nicole Kidman) categories in Academy Awards.
Based on the 2014 memoir, “A Long Way Home”, Australian director Garth Davis’ debut feature film, “Lion”, tells the story of Saroo Brierley, who as a five-year-old—played by Sunny Pawar—fell asleep in an empty train compartment and was taken 1,600km from home to Kolkata. There, he spent a few months at Thakurpukur Nava Jeevan home, before being adopted by an Australian couple, based in Tasmania. Twenty-five years later, Saroo returned to the city to trace his biological mother, using Google Earth. By then, Thakurpukur Naba Jeevan had long turned into a crèche.
On getting the Oscar nomination news, 85-year-old Saroj Sood, founder of Indian Society for Sponsorship and Adoption that ran the home, hoped that “Lion” would roar on the award night. Deepti Naval has played Sood’s character. “This is a great success story that the world needs to know. Saroo returned and met us in Kolkata. I’ve even gone to Tasmania and stayed with the family that adopted him. It was so interesting how he found his biological mother,” said Sood, who is eagerly waiting for the screening of the film here on February 5, when Saroo will be present. Her excitement was shared by 25 actors from Kolkata, who were part of the film. In a year when no Indian entry has bagged an Oscar nomination, the film’s casting director Jikesh D Shah is ecstatic that “Lion” has forged a connection between Kolkata and Academy Awards. “We are so proud. Everyone feels lucky to have been associated with a film that had a 16-day schedule in Kolkata,” Shah said.
Pravesh Sahni from India Take One, who helped in shooting in India, said it was great working in Kolkata. “We shot on a local train at Shalimar station. The assistant regional manager’s office at Shalimar was used as a police station. We also shot with a passenger train at the old building of Howrah station. Besides Howrah Bridge, the Howrah station subway and the Howrah station KMDA underpass served as locations. Some houses, such as Aparna Law’s home and Basubati in north Kolkata were used as well. We also shot at Tikiapara and the exterior of a Liluah home,” Sahni said. Priyanaka Bose, who described Dev as a “sincere and tender” person, insisted Kolkata looked beautiful: “It’s nothing like the clichés. The huge crowd at the station is used so well that the audience can feel the suffocation of little Saroo who got lost there.”
Hooghly ghats were also a major destination. From Jaganath Ghat, Panchavati temple at Mullick Ghat to Chhotelal Ghat, the camera captured all. Riddhi Sen, one of the actors, is thrilled. “In the film, I rescue the child Saroo from the streets and file a missing person’s report. Later on, that becomes very crucial. My father (Kaushik Sen) plays a police inspector. We shot the scene at a warehouse near a ghat,” Sen said.
Now, all eyes are on February 26 to hear how loudly Kolkata’s “Lion” roars.