Film Adaptation Of Saroo Brierley's Lion

All wise people will tell us that we must never let the sadness of our past and the fear of our future ruin the happiness of our present. However, what happens when this idea becomes an illusion restraining us from actually living in the present? What happens when the only condition to our happiness is that our present returns in the past? The book A long way home, written by Saroo Brierley and its film adaptation, Lion, directed by Garth Davis illustrates the fight of a young man who tries to appreciate his present by reconnecting with his past. Indeed, both literary and visual works present Saroo’s incredible, once thought impossible quest to find his biological family in the indian village he left 25 years ago. Through both narratives, it

However, his relationships and his sense of acceptance in his families are delineated differently in the novel and in the film. In Saroo’s work, he focuses mainly on his relationship with his family in India ; his mother, Kamla, his brothers, Guddu and Kallu and his sister, Shekila. He portrays them as: “My mother was very beautiful. […] I remember her as the loveliest woman in the world. […] As well as my mother and my baby sister, Shekila, whose name was Muslim unlike ours, there were also my older brothers, Guddu and Kallu, whom I loved and looked up to.” (Brierley 15). This shows how the book insists more on his biological family and how much they meant to him. In fact, the book enhances Saroo’s dear connection with his family thanks to the love, protection, and sacrifices of his mother and brothers. Knowing that he was loved made his seperation not only abrupt and unexpected, but unbearable, leaving the reader unconsciously hoping that he will one day find his way home. A home in which money is not a source of comfort, but rather the love and appreciation they have for each other. On the other hand, the film focuses more on Saroo’s relationship with his adoptive family. For instance; in the movie, several passages describes his new family and his new life in Australia while there is almost no mention of the close relationship he had with his family in India. Although Saroo's relationship with his Indian family was dismissed in the film, his relationship with his adoptive family was very well described, revealing to the viewer a different perspective on the sense of belonging. In fact, it illustrated that even if Saroo lived in good financial circumstances, surrounded by people who loved him and took care of him, he still felt an internal obligation to solve the mysteries about his origins by linking his present to his past. This only increases his inner struggle between his loving adoptive