Lion Page #6

---

Across the road at a cafe table, a MAN (pleasant-looking, a

student, 22, a book and cup of chai in front of him) watches -

fascinated.

Saroo feeds himself off the spoon, imagining a HUGE mouthful.

To the man it’s heartbreaking - he’s drawn in by Saroo’s

“play”. At that moment their eyes meet. The man smiles.

JUMP CUT:

INT. OFFICE, POLICE COMPLEX - SOON AFTER (DAY)

Saroo sits at a desk, tiny and bewildered in “officialdom”,

as the café man speaks to a POLICE OFFICIAL (50).

CAFÉ MAN

He speaks Hindi - not a word of

Bengali - so he must be a long way

from home. When I ask where he’s

from, he keeps saying “Ganestlay”.

It means nothing to me.

The official nods, walks over to an old WALL MAP of India.

POLICE OFFICIAL:

(to Saroo)

Now this ... “Ganestlay” -

(pointing to all of India)

Do you think you might have a rough

idea where it is?

Saroo - the little prince of cluelessness.

POLICE OFFICIAL (CONT’D)

Do you know which province? It

would help us a lot if you knew the

province.

Even as the words come out of his mouth, he understands the

stupidity of the question. But he hovers there, in hope.

Saroo stares at the map - that distinct triangle of India -

then the official, as if they’re both enormous blank walls.

The official sits. Glances at the café man.

POLICE OFFICIAL (CONT’D)

Let’s try something else. Do you

know your family name?

INT. OFFICE, POLICE COMPLEX - SOON AFTER (DAY)

FLASH! Saroo’s photo is taken.

INT. FRONT COUNTER, POLICE COMPLEX - SOON AFTER (DAY)

The official at a counter (Saroo on a bench, B/G, with the

café man) as a hardened OFFICER (he’s seen it all) takes

approximately five seconds to read Saroo’s two-page FILE.

STAMP! He stamps the file “LOST”. Staples the PHOTO to the

cover. Pulls out a separate page, Indian-bureaucracy-style.

26

HARDENED OFFFICER

(hands official the file)

That’s for ISSA.

(hands him the page)

That’s for Liluah.

POLICE OFFICIAL:

(slight frown)

Really?

HARDENED OFFFICER

(shrugs; not my problem)

While they process him.

ON THE POLICE OFFICIAL: he knows this is not great. He

composes himself, turns, smiles to Saroo and Café Man.

POLICE OFFICIAL:

They’ve found him a home - while

they look.

The man smiles, relieved. Ruffles Saroo’s hair.

EXT. POLICE VAN, STREET TO LILUAH GATE - AFTERNOON

We FOLLOW a dirty van down a narrow road along a high wall

topped with barbed wire and embedded broken glass.

INT. LILUAH VAN - CONTINUOUS (AFTERNOON)

In the back of the van, Saroo and four sullen STREET KIDS

sit, spooked, silent, tense, waiting - a haunting vigil of

expectation as the van rattles along.

(AUDIO, EXT:
) The van’s horn HONKS; an iron gate creaks open.

CUT TO BLACK:

OVER THE BLACKNESS:

A GUARD (O.S.)

MOVE! MOVE!

Shuffling sounds, as the children move - and outside, the

various noises and echoes of a world we are about to reveal.

BURST INTO BRIGHTNESS:

EXT. LILUAH DETENTION CENTER - CONTINUOUS (AFTERNOON)

We emerge from the darkness, following the terrified children

following the barking guard into the bleak, sun-drenched

courtyard of the high-walled complex.

A shiver-up-the-spine wrongness about this decrepit, fortress-

like place - no sense of a connection to the outside world.

Lonely chairs and rubbish lie on top of the wire-mesh “roof”.

They pass rows of cells; children’s EYES stare from the dark.

On Saroo:
what is this nightmare? He was desperate in

Calcutta; but there’s nothing but sorrow and suffering here.

INT. YOUNGER DORM, LILUAH - LATER (LATE AFTERNOON)

Saroo sits frozen, wary, on what passes for a bed.

Five other CHILDREN on beds, like spectres in the gloom.

Everyone looks traumatized; nobody speaks.

FADE TO BLACK.

OVER THE BLACKNESS we hear: the sounds of LOCKS OPENING,

CHAINS CLANGING, the big IRON FRONT GATE CREAKING OPEN FOOTSTEPS

across the courtyard - two MEN talking - coming

closer, closer - and downstairs, into the quiet building

INT. YOUNGER DORM, LILUAH - LATER (NIGHT)

FADE UP:
a sweet 5-YEAR-OLD GIRL (AMITA) lies in bed in the

stillness, staring over at Saroo with huge unblinking eyes.

Saroo stares back. The sounds come closer.

Saroo turns and watches as the two men - one a GUARD, the

other a well-dressed OUTSIDER - stride past the open door.

A door opens (O/S, AUDIO). Whimpering - a scuffle - shouts.

Then Saroo catches a glimpse of a HAUNTED BOY (8) being

dragged past the door by the men. Terror in the boy’s eyes.

Saroo so wide-eyed and wide awake in the dark night.

AUDITORY SEQUENCE (while on Saroo): a confusing auditory

nightmare. Beatings. Cries of anguish. Rape.

Amita simply stares across to Saroo.

Then after a time, she closes her eyes.

Saroo stares at the ceiling, eyes wide. The noises continue.

INT. MESS HALL, LILUAH - MORNING

Saroo shovels the thin gruel into his mouth in cowed silence.

Amita by his side, doing the same.

SAROO:

What is your name?

SWEET GIRL:

Amita.

Saroo notices a GUARD escorting a kindly-looking lady (MRS

SOOD, 45) with files in hand, who seems to be pointing and

talking about particular kids with the guard.

SAROO:

Does anybody ever leave here,

Amita?

AMITA:

I’ve seen it.

SAROO:

What will you do when you leave?

Pause.

AMITA:

I’d like to own a watch one day.

Long pause.

INT. CLASSROOM, LILUAH - DAY

Fifteen CHILDREN, nerves on edge, straining to get it right.

A SEVERE TEACHER barks the Sanskrit alphabet, pointing to the

letters on the blackboard as these illiterate kids repeat:

TEACHER CHILDREN

Kaa ... Gaa ... Naa ... Daa Kaa ... Gaa ... Naa ... [etc]

Saroo is earnestly trying to learn. He spots the haunted boy

from last night. A wild look in the boy’s eyes: blank, angry.

All the children except for Haunted Boy are duly repeating

the alphabet. Saroo looking sideways, fascinated by him.

Haunted Boy swaying back and forwards, rubbing his hair and

forehead, looking like a pressure cooker about to explode.

He upturns his desk, WAILS a primal howl of pure distress.

TEACHER:

What is this?

The teacher starts raining blows upon Haunted Boy.

At first Haunted Boy just takes it, through clenched teeth

-then he goes completely crazy, and fights back.

The teacher fights back even harder, screaming for help.

All the kids back away in a wide circle, scared, horrified.

Saroo, trying to shrink within himself.

29

As the horrible struggle continues and two MALE TEACHERS rush

in and help beat down Haunted Boy - Saroo watching wide-eyed

-LIVE SOUND FADES, and a beautiful, haunting little Hindi

folk song rises - Amita’s voice in PRE-LAP INT.

YOUNGER DORM, LILUAH - NIGHT

Saroo lies listening, soothed, as Amita softly sings. The

song becomes the AUDIO “BED” as we travel over the landscape

of the various CHILDREN in this holding room of lost souls:

hands covered in scabs, eyes all staring. Listening.

Rate this script:4.0 / 12 votes