Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel to begin Lion shoot

Filming will begin in Kolkata, India, this week on new Australian feature film Lion, starring Nicole Kidman and Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel.

Adapted from the true story A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley, Lion will be directed by Garth Davis (Top of the Lake) with a screenplay by Luke Davies (Candy, Life).

The project is being produced by See-Saw Films in association with Sunstar Entertainment and Aquarius Films. Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder are producing with Andrew Fraser, Shahen Mekertichian and Daniel Levin executive producing.

The film centres on five-year-old Indian boy who gets lost thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

The Indian cast includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Priyanka Bose, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Deepti Naval.

Producer Sherman noted that Kidman would not be filming in India, but will join the film for the Australian shoot in April/May. Patel will also not film in Kolkata. 

Filming begins in Kolkata in West Bengal province and the production will move to Indore in Madhya Pradesh province in February.

Transmission Films will distribute Lion in Australia and New Zealand. The Weinstein Company acquired Lion at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where they closed the deal for worldwide distribution excluding Australia and New Zealand.

The film is being co-financed by Screen Australia and Fulcrum Media Finance.

Production services in India are being handled by India Take One Productions.