Movie Review- Lion (2016)

"Artistic, compelling; leaves a lump in your throat at times, makes you yearn for more at times..."

It is not everyday that a tale of loss and grief has a happy ending, atleast the odds are stacked against if you're away from your biological family since the age of 5 and in a different continent- eons away.

It is not everyday that you see a real life incident which moves you and gives you the lesson on what the meaning of family is. What it is like to play together, eat together, sleep together, breathe together.

Lion is an engaging tale of human grit and the sense of redemption. Garth Davis' directorial debut has its heart in the right place...throughout. The casting is stupendous. Sunny Pawar (the young Saroo) gives a hear wrenching performance and then the story moves to the more uninteresting part where Dev Patel(adult Saroo) finally comes to terms with being neglectful of his family for 20 years and starts hunting them using Google Earth.

The film starts of with the trials and tribulations of the young Saroo, who is left stranded on a platform and finds himself on a train enroute Kolkata. Kolkata is unwelcoming and Saroo with all his luck finds himself coming out of the shackles of the city, unscathed, well almost. He gets admitted to an orphanage which eventually leads him to his adopted parents (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham)  who take him to Tasmania.


As the story takes a leap of 20 years, the mature Saroo (Dev Patel), completes his hotel management studies from Melbourne. Despite garnering success in his life, he is constantly forlornly about his home in India, all he remembers of it is a village called Ganeshtalay. His crises is compounded by his erratic and capricious stepbrother.

Saroo has flashbacks of his part (of his mother working at a construction site and his brother leaving him at the railway station). Darwis beautifully shows this via time warp and it is in sync with the mental conflict of the protagonist. As Saroo has hidden his love for his first world and home from his adoptive parents and girlfriend (Rooney Maara), it takes an epiphany for his to hunt for his original home in India.

Weeks of efforts interspersed with guilt and the need for redemption, he finally finds Ganeshtalay on the map and thus homecoming beckons. He eventually reaches home and meets his biological mother (Priyanka Bose; excellent), who identifies him and the tears roll out.

A tried script is made beautiful because it is a real story with  the characters alive and shows the power of emotions and of course technology. To add to it the cinematography and the performances of the central characters, Lion is the fable depicting undeterred human spirit and love for one's family.

Nest in the hills-Bhutan diary

Swaying in pristine beauty,
Dogged in its duty
Full of fervour,
Plentiful in zest
The land of dragon,
At its very best

Humility dripping from,
This chilly windy nest
The people and the culture,
No lows, only crests
Respect and courtesy for nature,
Is the land's inherent feature


In this world of numbers,
Unfazed- the land of thunder
The nature wraps its arms around,
Makes a tourist, a pilgrim
Mind invigorated, happiness gala,
Be it Thimpu, Paro or Chele La


The flutter of the prayer flags,
The maroon robed monks' chant
The grandeur of the dzongs,
Astounded by the unblemished serenity
This tiny kingdom, keeping abreast,
Giving time a stern test

Giving modernism those tiny jibes,
The people draped in gho and kira
Blushing in their happy vibes
The snowy Himalayas give the backdrop.
To yaks locking horns on a hillock
And pheasants chortle in a flock


Walking down the alleys,
Trekking through the hills
The peace monk-like,
The pines gushing in glory
An eerie moment of silence,
It is in the world of offence

The last lecture

Feb 01, 2017

10:00 AM

Subject- Agro-Commodity Trading

With somnolent demeanour I dragged myself out of the bed, wore my jeans and jacket to attend the class. The topic was not intriguing, the attendance too was in the "safe" zone, but something compelled to take that one final stretch to Room No. 6.

The 4 minute journey from my W-610 to the lecture hall was not an ordinary one when it struck me. The revelation of it being the last class of my MBA. An potentially, my student life.

I sat in the Agro Commodity class. Generally a corner bencher, I sat up in row 2. Not surprisingly, the class had a paltry attendance (given the fact it was the last trimester of the MBA and the placements were done and no one paid heed to lectures anyways), the Prof. started with a smirk given that no one was paying attention. Being in IIFT and having Trade as my MBA minor, I was supposed to be aware about physical trading and commodity derivative fundamentals. 15 minutes of attention and the span drew to an abrupt end.

I tried hard but I could feel the revelation, the startle about it being the last time I sat in a lecture. There was an eerie feeling of the joy of finally crossing the threshold of an MBA but the despair of this lovely phase of life which apparently won't come again. Ever. I wanted to say something but a lump in the throat is all what I could muster.

The emphasis of the day, of those two hours cannot be summarised or expresses in words because the feeling overpowers your action. It lingers somewhere in my subconscious mind and makes me contemplate the entire 20 years of my life as a student. It also makes me reminiscent of my first lecture or class which I just couldn't recollect. The long and thrilling ride from a kindergartener to an MBA (International Business). I couldn't compare the 4 year old me and the 26 year old me and what would have been the feeling and the jitters in the days of yore. Phew!

The clock ticked and the two hours, the 120 minutes, the 7200 seconds elapsed. During these precious seconds and some derivative gibberish, I kept on thinking about how enriching all these things have been. The periods of draughts have been the lessons I learnt, the periods of spring have been the celebrations. To add flavour to this signature dish, there were the experiences I gained, and the spice was given by the friends I made.

Multiple thoughts gushed before me swaying me into a whirlpool of emotions. It reached a point where I felt that I have grown up all so suddenly. I longed that kindergartener, frivolous, nonchalant and away from the world of reason and politics.

The time had come. The transition had happened. I had lived my last lecture.