Lion Page #20

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Guddu’s POV:
we’re spinning in a circle, holding onto Saroo

with outstretched arms as he too shrieks with laughter.

WIDE of same:
Guddu twirls Saroo around in the shallow water

by the dam, tiny Saroo’s feet barely skimming the surface.

Guddu lets go, Saroo flies into the water. He jumps up,

laughing. Drenched in golden sunlight.

98

INT. LIVING ROOM, BEACH HOUSE - CONTINUOUS (NIGHT)

Saroo’s hands are shaking. Fingers on the track pad, urgent.

This cannot be happening.

He zooms in closer. ON Google Earth screen, more details: the

clay shore, the LONG DAM WALL.

SAROO’S “MEMORY MAP”: FLASHBACK 2 - DAM (DAY)

-a beautiful, sun-drenched moment: five-year-old Saroo

sprinting homewards, the dam receding behind him (with its

LONG DAM WALL). Elation and urgency mixed together.

INT. LIVING ROOM, BEACH HOUSE - CONTINUOUS (NIGHT)

Saroo keeps scrolling, paying 1000% attention.

ON SCREEN:
he stops on the town.

Saroo, scrolling. Eyes attentive to every detail.

ON SCREEN:
the name hovering above the town is “Khandwa”.

SAROO:

(it doesn’t ring a bell)

Khandwa?...

But his fingers trace across the screen. There’s the STATION

EXT. STREET NEAR KHANDWA STATION - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Little Saroo continues running home, past Khandwa Station.

INT. LIVING ROOM, BEACH HOUSE - CONTINUOUS (NIGHT)

Saroo, scrolling along -

- ON GOOGLE EARTH SCREEN: the UNDERPASS

SAROO’S “MEMORY MAP”: FLASHBACK 3 - UNDERPASS (DAY)

Little Saroo continues running home - into the underpass JUMP

CUT:

- and pops out the other side

INT. LIVING ROOM, BEACH HOUSE - CONTINUOUS (NIGHT)

Saroo, scrolling frantically. Nose inches from the screen.

ON GOOGLE EARTH SCREEN: we scroll OVER the underpass - out

the other side - following roads -

[NOTE:
CONTINUE TO BLEND WITH RAPID FLASHES OF REAL AERIAL]

-left, right, right - the roads getting narrower ...

And now, at last: a NAME floats above this part of town.

GANESH TALAI:

ON Saroo:
what?? WHAT??!!

ON SCREEN:
there it is. Floating. “Ganesh Talai”.

SAROO:

Ganesh Talai. Ganesh Talay.

Ganestlay.

He gasps. Then an involuntary LAUGH comes from deep in his

belly. A feeling that this can’t be happening.

And now he picks up speed, and scrolls, ever faster -

ON SCREEN:
the streets, narrower and narrower

INT. GANESH TALAI STREETS - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Little Saroo, sprinting, lungs bursting, joyful, homewards

INT. LIVING ROOM, BEACH HOUSE - CONTINUOUS (NIGHT)

-Saroo, glued to the screen. Scrolling. Left, right. The

streets getting narrower.

ON SCREEN:
a street so narrow it could only be an alleyway.

SAROO’S “MEMORY MAP”: FLASHBACK 4 - ALLEYWAY TO HOME (DAY)

We FOLLOW over little Saroo’s shoulder as he rounds the final

corner to the narrow alley to home: past the house with the

lurid aqua walls, past the overflowing bougainvillea

INT. LIVING ROOM, BEACH HOUSE - CONTINUOUS (NIGHT)

ON SCREEN:
We stop. Above a nondescript CLUSTER OF SHACKS.

We ZOOM, closer, closer. Towards a single specific BUILDING.

Closer. Until the pixels coarsen, and the roof is a blur.

Saroo, breathing hard. Staring so intently at the screen.

That blurry, pixellated roof fills the entire screen.

On Saroo, brimming with emotion.

SAROO:

(very softly)

Ammi ...

-that Hindi word, rising up from the deep.

JUMP CUT:

EXT. SHARE HOUSE - SAME NIGHT

Saroo knocks. Lucy comes to the door. They stare at each

other. She looks frightened - what’s happened...

SAROO:

I found home...

Her face - doubt, belief, joy for him. Did you just say what

I think you said?

Saroo’s eyes, wide in amazement. That’s a Yes.

Lucy wraps her arms around Saroo. They embrace tightly - -

what does this mean for them?

Held in that embrace - rocking gently together - Saroo

breathes.

INT. LIVING ROOM, BEACH HOUSE - NEXT DAY

Saroo holds the door open as Sue walks into the room.

John, just arrived in his work clothes, stands there, proud

as punch - watching his wife.

JOHN:

You need to look at this

Sue enters slowly, mesmerized by something off-screen.

Emotions palpably rippling across her face.

REVERSE:
we follow her as she walks up to the map - it’s

still in disarray from Saroo’s flag pin destruction, but you

can see how amazing and methodical it was.

Sue studies it. The grandeur, the scope, the epic madness -

even in its fractured state. Its magnificence.

ON Saroo:
watching her, anticipating her response.

SUE:

This is where you’ve been?

He nods.

SAROO:

I didn’t want you to feel I was

ungrateful...

Sue takes it all in, astonished.

SUE:

Saroo.

She embraces him, overcome with emotion.

101

SUE (CONT’D)

I really hope she’s there. She

needs to see how beautiful you are.

John joins in the embrace.

INT. QANTAS A380 TO INDIA - NIGHT

Saroo in his window seat on the plane. Peering out, down into

the dark earth. Most everyone else is asleep, and the lights

are dimmed. But Saroo’s awake, and deep in thought.

And just like that five-year-old - twenty-five years ago,

heading off to the unknown - he pulls the shade down, up. But

only once.

EXT. DREAM QUARRY - DAY (FLASHBACK)

We’re back in our mythic, prehistoric, dust-shrouded

landscape. The washed-out whiteness. The white dust.

And again, Saroo running across the sun-baked rubble, white

with dust himself. Everything so heightened and surreal.

SAROO:

Ammi! Ammi!

He’s carrying something close to his chest, like a bright

orange heart. He’s beaming, proud.

SAROO (CONT’D)

Ammi!

And there in the distance, Kamla turns again. Shading her

eyes against the sun. Covered in the white quarry dust.

SAROO (CONT’D)

Look what I’ve got!

He reveals his offering: in the middle of all that white - a

perfect, bulbous MANGO. Glowing in its perfect orangeness.

She reaches out her hand. Touches his face in thanks. What an

unimaginable treat.

JUMP CUT:

Saroo and Kamla sit on the rocky ground, devouring the mango.

The juice streaks their dust-caked faces. Sucking at the

flesh, the nectar. A playful delight coursing through them.

SAROO (CONT’D)

I threw a rock. I knocked it out of

the tree!

102

KAMLA:

(grinning, nodding)

Good boy.

I/E. TAXI / ROAD FROM INDOOR TO KHANDWA - DAY

Saroo in the back seat of the taxi. Peering intently out the

window at the landscape rolling by.

The fields. The small towns.

INT. HOTEL ROOM, KHANDWA - DAY

We FOLLOW CLOSE behind Saroo as he enters his hotel room and

throws the backpack on the bed.

Saroo at the window. Looking down on the bus terminal and -

further away - train station from this third floor room.

POV:
all the mad activity down there in the streets.

INT. HOTEL ROOM, KHANDWA - TWENTY MINUTES LATER (DAY)

Saroo lies fully clothed, spread on the bed. Shoes still on.

Arms spread. Staring up at the ceiling.

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