Pint-sized Sunny Pawar steals hearts in Lion

While La La Land came out tops at the recent Golden Globe Awards, another best picture nominee, Lion, is stealing hearts, thanks to its young actor, Sunny Pawar.

On Friday it is South Africa’s turn to be struck by the pint-sized Casanova when the film opens on the local circuit.

Lion is based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, who was separated from his family at the age of five when he accidentally boarded the wrong train in rural India.

Unable to remember his hometown or his mother’s name, Saroo is placed in an orphanage and later adopted by an Australian family and taken to live in the southern island state of Tasmania.

Years later, Saroo used the Google Earth internet tool to find his home in India. Pawar plays Saroo as a child.

The young star won the role when he was just five while attending a school for impoverished children in Mumbai.

Since then, he has befriended a number of A-listers thanks to his emotional role and his talent for mimicry.

Pawar cannot speak English and learned his non-Hindi dialogue for the film phonetically. He also relied on translators to speak to cast members such as Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel.

The pint-sized actor even had a special sign language to communicate with director Garth Davis.

Pawar says during his time on set, Kidman was like a mother to him, but he formed a special bond with Patel, who plays the grownup Brierly in the film.

“We talked and played and then we became friends,” he says.

Pawar has been able to travel the world since the film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, often accompanied by family members.

At the weekend, Patel spoke candidly about his relationship with Pawar in The Daily Telegraph.

He said: “He’s so beautifully innocent and that’s why you get such a beautiful performance from him.

“He’s just really enjoying it.”

Since filming wrapped, Patel has been supporting the young star, as evident during the Golden Globe Awards when he held up Pawar to microphones.

– Additional reporting by Reuters, AFP

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