Lion director Garth Davis on Oscar pressure, desi love and rumours of link-up with Nicole
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; February 3, 2017)

It was a coincidence that Australian filmmaker Garth Davis found inspiration to make Lion from a newspaper article. It brought him to India, a country, he says, “feels like home”. “I wish I could be more of a tourist, but I have explored India like a local. Of course, the story of Lion connected me with the place, but prior to that too, I was connected to Indian literature,” Garth Davis tells hitlist.

The director of the Oscar-nominated film, Lion, which tells the story of an Indian orphan, is currently in Mumbai to promote the project. He says, “Arundhati Roy’s God Of Small Things is my favourite novel. Once I land in India, I feel a sense of kinship.”

The filmmaker, who has struck gold with his maiden feature, says that a newspaper article about Saroo Brierley (Indian-born Australian businessman, who was separated from his birth mother and adopted by an Australian couple) finding his mother two decades after separation was his inspiration. “The story was magical. It traversed two different worlds. Its matriarchal quality was the foremost reason we made the film.”

Dev Patel (Saroo), who is nominated for Best Actor, had told hitlist last week that he barged into Garth’s office to audition for Lion. “I never thought he could be Saroo. I just saw him share the passion for the story.” But, some say, what added value to Lion was casting Nicole Kidman. “When I was spending time with Saroo’s foster mother, Sue, I couldn’t think of anyone better than Nicole. She understood Sue with such depth,” he says.

Nicole is also someone Davis has been linked with. Reports suggest her husband (Keith Urban) is upset with the filmmaker. Davis slams gossip, saying, “It’s stupid that when we were shooting, tabloids wrote about Nicole being pregnant. I’d meet her on set and wonder, where’s the bump? There isn’t an ounce of truth.
It was upsetting because my children had a talk with me about the reports.”

With Oscar nominations in six categories, is Garth nervous? “I don’t let pressure get to me. I take pride in the film we’ve made. Now it’s in the lap of the Gods to decide what it deserves. When we didn’t win at the Golden Globes, there was a little disappointment. Awards make you too concerned about winning and losing. At the Oscars, the odds are against us. If we win, I’ll be surprised.”