Lion

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EXTREME HIGH AERIAL - DAY (1987)

We’re soaring - 20,000 feet above this vast island earth

VERY HIGH AERIAL - DAY

15,000 feet now - we’re soaring over a dark emerald ocean -

HIGH AERIAL - ABOVE INDIA - DAY

4,000 feet, whooshing effortlessly over cities, villages,

countryside, rail lines - all the mad glory of India

AERIAL - INDIA - DAY

2,000 feet, soaring, slowing, high above an ochre landscape

-way down there:
a TINY FIGURE picks its way through the

fringes of a small trash heap by a dam AERIAL

- ABOVE FIELD NEAR DAM, KHANDWA - CONTINUOUS (DAY)

20 feet above ground now, we’re following that tiny figure (a

SMALL BOY) from behind, as he scampers through the trash

EXT. RUBBISH-STREWN FIELD NEAR DAM, KHANDWA - CONTINUOUS

His TINY HANDS come into frame. Scavenging.

IN TIGHTER:
the same hands. Clearly a practised routine.

A YELLOW BUTTERFLY flutters onto the hand. The hand STILLS,

so as not to scare the butterfly.

Our tiny figure (SAROO, 5) stands up, ever so carefully.

FRONT ANGLE:
we see him properly for the first time. Studying

the butterfly. Entranced. Then he notices a few more.

WIDER:
he’s in a field entirely filled with their fluttering.

Delighted, he spreads his arms wide. He moves through the

butterflies - fluttering all around his head and shoulders.

Suddenly - a 5-year-old testing his powers - he ROARS SAROO

ROARRRGHHH!!

- laughing - the butterflies scatter all around him

VOICE (O.S.)

Saroo! Saroo!

In the distance, up on the railway line that runs along the

ridge, a silhouette. Saroo’s BROTHER (GUDDU, 12) waves.

EXT. RAILWAY TRACKS - AFTERNOON

Saroo and Guddu hide in wait in the shrubs along the track.

A huge COAL TRAIN lumbers toward them, picking up speed.

Guddu bursts out - clambers up onto the moving train.

Saroo runs alongside, terrified and at the same time loving

the thrill. His bare feet hurting on the rough ground.

Guddu effortlessly swings himself onto the open coal car.

GUDDU:

Keep up! Keep up!

Guddu starts throwing coal off the train, into the makeshift

net of Saroo’s shirt - mostly missing.

At any moment Saroo could go under those giant wheels.

Along the tracks: THREE MEN (SECURITY) give chase, shouting.

Guddu clambers down. The boys scramble for stray lumps of

coal. But they don’t have much time; the men are gaining.

They peel off into the dense scrub, giggling as they sprint

well-trodden short-cuts; the men begin to recede, B/G.

EXT. KHANDWA STREETS - AFTERNOON

Bustling Khandwa. Colors, street stalls, people everywhere.

Saroo and Guddu stride confidently through all this, holding

their pregnant coal bellies in place. They know this routine.

EXT. KHANDWA MARKETS - SOON AFTER (AFTERNOON)

They dump the coal into a STREET VENDOR’s bucket.

As the vendor ladles out a small plastic bag of warm milk

from a bubbling vat, Saroo notices something to his side POV,

as in a dream:
in another vat, rich, deep-orange Jalebis

sizzle - an unattainable feast that makes Saroo salivate.

SAROO:

(nudges Guddu)

Guddu ... Jalebis ...

Guddu looks at them too; for a beat we see beyond the boys’

deep hunger - they’re just kids, yearning for a sweet.

EXT. ROAD HOME TO GANESH TALAI - SOON AFTER (DUSK)

They run along the road home. Joyful, free. A job well done.

Turning into the final alley, they pass a house with a lurid

aqua wall, and a hedge of overflowing bougainvillea.

All the while we keep our eye on that little plastic bag.

INT. ONE-ROOM HOME - SOON AFTER (EVENING)

Home is a dirt-floor shack. Kerosene lamp. Bare walls. Coal

fire in the corner. Plastic dish tub. Subsistence living.

Saroo’s MOTHER (KAMLA, 30 - beautiful, but lined by life)

ladles dhal onto plates for Saroo, Guddu, and SHEKILA (2).

KALLU (a boy, 9 - Saroo and Guddu’s brother, cheeky, flighty)

enters, sits, unwrapping a cloth containing scraps of bread.

KALLU:

I got the bread!

SAROO:

(it’s competitive)

We got the milk!

They devour the meal in silence. We study each person.

Kamla unties the plastic bag, pours the milk into a bowl. She

dips a crust of bread and gives it to Shekila to suckle on.

Guddu, Kallu, and Saroo take a sip each and pass the bowl.

Saroo offers the bowl to his mother. She smiles a gentle No.

Saroo grins at Guddu. So proud of their milk escapade.

Kallu ups and leaves as fast as he came.

INT. ONE-ROOM HOME - SOON AFTER (EVENING)

Saroo lies with Shekila on her little “cot” - barely a scrap

of mattress - on the floor. Soothing her, stroking her head.

SAROO:

Shhh. Shhh.

Saroo lifts his head, looks at Kamla as she drapes her head

with a silk sari and begins to head out.

She looks back at his questioning little face.

KAMLA:

You know I have to work.

INT. ONE-ROOM HOME - SOON AFTER (EVENING)

Stillness of the night outside. Shekila sleeps; Saroo nearly

there. But when Guddu slips out the door, Saroo sees him go.

EXT. ALLEY BEHIND ONE-ROOM HOME - MOMENTS LATER (NIGHT)

Guddu wrestles his rickety bicycle from its hiding place.

SAROO (O.S.)

How long this time?

Guddu turns to see Saroo standing there.

GUDDU:

You did good today, Saroo.

SAROO:

I want to come with you. How long?

GUDDU:

A week. You have to mind Shekila.

SAROO:

Kallu will be back.

GUDDU:

You’re too little to carry sacks.

It’s very hard work.

SAROO:

I can carry anything!

Guddu smiles, amused. Really?

With great effort, Saroo lifts up the bicycle, holds it aloft

above his head, like a weight-lifter. Straining.

GUDDU:

Okay. Put it down.

Guddu laughs at the absurdity and sheer balls.

EXT. UNDERPASS AND BUSY STREETS - SOON AFTER (NIGHT)

Travelling at breakneck speed - Saroo joyfully perched on the

handlebars - the boys emerge from the underpass.

The busy streets whizzing past. Guddu the daredevil.

A YOUNG MAN:

Go, Guddu!

On Saroo:
so proud of his big brother. This is living!

INT. TRAIN TO BURHANPUR - LATER (NIGHT)

Saroo and Guddu standing on a crowded night train. Hemmed in.

INT. SAME TRAIN - LATER (NIGHT)

The majority of the crowd are disembarking at a station.

In a deftly-practised move, Saroo and Guddu scurry like

monkeys under the seats, scavenging for scraps.

On Guddu:
he finds a peso. (It’s about 1/100th of a Rupee.)

GUDDU:

Peso!

On Saroo:
he grabs something. A peanut. He cracks the shell -

SAROO:

Guddu!

He splits the single peanut in two, and they eat it.

INT. SAME TRAIN - LATER (NIGHT)

The train is moving again. Plenty of seats now.

Saroo looks totally exhausted, his head resting on Guddu.

Guddu strokes Saroo, dreamily staring out into the blackness.

EXT. BURHANPUR PLATFORM - LATER (NIGHT)

The train pulls into Burhanpur Station. The PASSENGERS

disembark. Last off is Guddu, carrying sleeping Saroo.

Guddu sits Saroo down on a bench.

GUDDU:

Saroo - wake up!

Saroo simply groans, and curls up sideways.

GUDDU (CONT’D)

You have to walk.

SAROO:

(whiny)

I’m asleep ...

GUDDU:

You’re too little for late nights!

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