Australian director Garth Davis has achieved a kind of unparalleled fame with his debut feature film Lion. The film, set in rural India and urban Australia, has garnered 6 Oscar nominations. In India, for a flash visit, Garth speaks to Subhash K Jha.
Q: How was your India trip?
Garth Davis: Well, there was the premiere on Wednesday night. And then I had to fly to Los Angeles because I was nominated for the Screen Guilds’ Award. I am also in the middle of making my next film Mary Magdalene. So a lot of time pressure is on me. We’re hoping to have that out by the end of the year.
Q: Is there a sense of achievement in your debut film, Lion, being hailed as a masterpiece?
Garth Davis: Oh absolutely! But I don’t know, it’s so hard to describe what I feel for this film. I felt passionately about the subject. It’s a beautiful story. It was made with a lot of heart and a lot of love. I am overwhelmed.
Q: Didn’t you find it daunting to be doing something so seriously sentimental at the start of your feature-film career? You could’ve begun with a light-hearted comedy?
Garth Davis: No, thank you (laughs). I can’t do that. I get very frustrated that cinema no longer moves me. These days, a lot of movies have become about commerce and marketing. I want to watch movies that move me, change the way I think, and stay with me for days afterwards.
Q: Are tears hard to manage on screen?
Garth Davis: I think if you find the truth of the scene and characters, then the emotion is real. My film is not melodramatic, though it’s deeply emotional. It moves people in all sorts of ways because of its honesty. You’ve to get on the hard road, as well as the easy road, in constructing the characters.
Q: How close did the experience of making Lion bring you to India?
Garth Davis: I feel I have a deeply spiritual connect with this country. When I came to India for the first time, it felt very natural for me to be here. I felt very much at home. And I felt I could capture what I had thought about in the film.
Q: You shot in impossible Indian locations like Kolkata. How did you do it?
Garth Davis: I was well aware of how hard it would be to shoot in these places, and I despise the way people in India are portrayed in cinema. I wanted this to be an authentic experience. I wanted this to an authentic journey for the audiences, worldwide. I wanted them to be both terrified and fall in love with Saroo’s journey. There is no easy road to take when you have certain ambitions.
I have to admit - the shooting logistics were very complicated. Not only did we have to deal with speeding trains and crowded stations, but a little boy in the the midst of it all.
Q: How participative were the real Saroo Brierley and his Australian mother?
Garth Davis: I spent a lot of time with them. In fact, the first day of my research trip was with the programme 60 Minutes, where we saw Saroo’s birth mother meet the adoptive mother. I’ve shown that meeting at the end of Lion. Audiences love that.
Q: How did you find the phenomenal Sunny Pawar?
Garth Davis: It’s quite a story! We had to put our collective hearts into it. We had auditions happening in three cities, over 3-4 months. We looked at thousands and thousands of children. Then we shortlisted around 100-200 children. I came to India with my acting coach from New Zealand and my casting director from Australia, we workshopped with the children for a couple of weeks. During those workshops, I came across Sunny Pawar. I could tell straightaway, as soon as I saw him, that he was right.
Q: Did you choose Sunny to play Saroo first, or Dev?
Garth Davis: Sunny first, then Dev.
Q: You had to make sure they matched physically?
Garth Davis: I didn’t really have a choice to be honest. I guess I just got lucky!
Q: You’ve worked with the very beautiful Nicole Kidman in Lion. Your friendship with her is being discussed in the international press. Is she a special friend?
Garth Davis: When you make a movie, you develop a friendship with you cast. You’ve to find a place of trust to get these kinds of performances. I had a very strong connection with the entire cast. Nicole is very strongly connected to the story in Lion. It’s her own story as well. It’s just one of those rare journeys that she and the entire cast went on that affected everyone.
Q: How is Lion akin to Ms Kidman’s own story?
Garth Davis: She’s adopted her children, thus possesses a spiritualism that’s very similar to the character she plays. There are lots of similarities between Nicole Kidman and Sue Brierley. To Nicole, Lion was like a love letter to her own children. What the film says about one’s children is that it isn’t about biology. It’s about the love that you have for your child. It doesn’t matter where the child comes from and what is the colour of his or her skin. If you love them unconditionally and you’re there for them when they need you, that is home. That bond between a parent and child is most sacred.
Q: The fabulous Rooney Mara, who plays the lead in your next film Mary Magdalene, has a small part in Lion as Saroo’s girlfriend. Did you cut a deal with her for the two films?
Garth Davis: No, that wouldn’t work with Rooney Mara, that’s for sure. She only does the things she feels passionately about. I didn’t think we had any chance of getting Rooney Mara on board in Lion. But she loved the story so much. I got on the phone with her, and we just got along instantly. She felt it was right. She just followed her heart. We shot Lion first. Obviously I just loved her performance. Such an extraordinary talent. I just put out a wish in the universe, that maybe one day I can work with her again.
Q: And your wish came true?
Garth Davis: Yes, be careful what you wish for!
Q: Lion has probably made you famous and rich.
Garth Davis: Rich? Not at all. Maybe the next one (laughs). For that I’ve to make a commercial movie.
Q: But Lion is doing very well?
Garth Davis: I think it’s beginning to do well now. It’s doing very well in Australia, and it’s about to be released in the US and India. So let’s see.
Q: Once it wins at Oscars, the commerce will multiply. Isn’t that how it works?
Garth Davis: I am still learning.
Q: Do you plan to come back to India for another movie?
Garth Davis: Absolutely! But I don’t know when. Do I see myself making another film with Indian characters? I don’t see myself doing anything. The characters just come to me. But I do have a connection with India.
Q: I just love the way the title of the film is explained suddenly at the end
Garth Davis: Haha! I just love watching the audiences’ reaction to that!
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