Absolutely amazing and I just can't find the right words to describe Sunny Pawar in this film. His portrayal of Young Saroo is heartbreaking but so wonderful. What a brilliant little actor he is

What a beautiful and emotional journey. I knew I was gonna cry like a little baby at the end. Thank you Saroo for sharing your story.

Google were right to feature this film on Chrome's "New Tab" page when it came out. It's breathtaking. _Lion_ deserves a 10/10 for cinematography. I wish I could agree with the choice to cast Dev Patel in the lead role, though. Apart from the difference in skin tone, Patel's Saroo spent a lot of the film playing something of a sex icon. As amazing as the story is, I found the execution disappointing in the area of character development. Saroo himself didn't really get fleshed out, and as a result he remains kind of a cardboard cutout, a place for the viewer to self-insert and imagine how it would feel to be in his place. One other big issue: Saroo's adopted brother. We find out almost nothing about him over the course of the film. His obvious mental illness/disability is sidelined to just a couple of scenes—sidelined to the point of being irrelevant. As the viewer, we know it exists, but that's all. We don't know what it is, or if he's undergoing treatment, or if he tried treatment and it failed to help, or how it's really affecting his life. Its effect on Sue is alluded to in a few places, but nothing about Mantosh himself. It irks me a bit that the film devoted so much screen time to Saroo flicking the Google Earth map around. Some of that time could have been spent further developing characters, perhaps showing some of Saroo's life growing up. Skipping ahead 20 years deprived the audience of opportunities to watch Saroo adapt to life in Australia. All that said, I realize that this film is essentially a pseudo-biography of living people, and as such there must have been limitations on what the film was able to show. So I can't lop off a mess of rating points for the perceived holes in the screenplay. And besides, it was still a damn enjoyable film.

This was one of 2016 best movies, i haven't seen Fences (which i don't have much hope) and Manchester by the sea but i think we have a solid winner. A fantastic true story, very inspiring and sad with a magnificent little actor Sunny Pawar. This is a must see, it will have you in tears.

Broke me into a million pieces. Emotionally shattering, both as a film and the true story behind it. Tremendous performance from the young lead but kudos to all involved. I wish the film had spent a little more time with Saroo as a child, letting us see his adjustment into the western lifestyle. However, that is my only quibble with the film. Ultimately the film left me feeling inspired, but also very sad. Without going into spoilers, the statements during the credits reveal more of the backstory, one of which is incredibly upsetting. Still, its a wake up call to all of us - we need to be selfless when it comes to doing more good in the world we live in.