And like Slumdog, which won eight Oscars, Patel’s new film Lion is now being talked up as a major awards contender.
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Lion, helmed by first-timer Garth Davis and top-lined by Dev Patel, is the incredible true story of Saroo Brierley, an impoverished Madhya Pradesh five-year-old, who lost contact with his birth mother after being carried 1,600 km away from home by a train on which he fell asleep. Eventually, he was adopted and raised by an Australian couple.
“Fortunately for Davis, he’s got a terrific cast, chief among them the pair of charismatic actors who split the lead role: First, newcomer Sunny Pawar wins us over as 5-year-old Saroo, who’s so adorable he could set off an Indian adoption craze. then Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel”.
“I spent most of my existence in school trying to shun my heritage to avoid getting beaten up or bullied or just to fit in”, he recalled.
“Working in India is beautifully chaotic”. “When you have good love like that, you flourish”.
At the post-premiere press conference on Sunday, Nicole Kidman, who plays the protagonist’s adoptive mom, Sue Brierley, said, “This is a film about the power of mothers, whichever form they come in”. “So it’s obviously emotional for me”. In real life, I am a fidgety kind of person. “We’re all scattered around the world and we make films all around the world and Hollywood is of some bygone era now, which is sad in a way”, she said. “I got to know her very well”.
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney was more enthusiastic, describing the feature film debut of Davis, who co-directed the TV drama series Top Of the Lake with Jane Campion, as “enthralling”.
But “regardless of complains, Lion is likely to strike a chord with many, including Oscar voters”.
“It’s refreshing to see the complications of a mixed racial identity brought to the screen”, it said.
Variety’s Peter Debruge said the story was ” barely meaty enough to wrap the evening news, let alone sustain a two-hour feature. “Toronto is so warm…it’s not a tough festival”.
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“It’s so nice to be back here with a bit of facial hair”.
