33 Facts About Saroo Brierley

Saroo Brierley was adopted out of India by an Australian couple but was reunited with his original family 25 years later after finding his hometown via Google Earth.

Saroo Brierley's story generated significant international media attention, especially in Australia and India.

Saroo Brierley was born Sheru Munshi Khan, in about 1981, in Ganesh Talai, a suburb within Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh.

Saroo Brierley's mother was a Hindu and his father was a Muslim.

When Saroo was around three years old, his father abandoned the family after taking a second wife, throwing the family into poverty.

One evening in or about 1986, Guddu said he was going to ride the train from Khandwa to the city of Burhanpur, 70 kilometres to the south, and reluctantly allowed the five-year-old Saroo Brierley to join him.

Saroo Brierley found there were no doors to the adjoining carriages.

Occasionally the train stopped at small stations, but Saroo Brierley was unable to open the door to escape.

Saroo Brierley did not know it at the time, but he was nearly 1,500 kilometres from his hometown.

Saroo Brierley attempted to return home, initially by boarding different trains, but these proved to be on suburban lines and each one eventually took Saroo back to Howrah railway station.

Saroo Brierley survived by scavenging scraps of food in the street and sleeping underneath the station's seats.

Saroo Brierley sensed that something was not right when the railway worker showed Saroo Brierley to a friend.

Saroo Brierley fled and was pursued, but he managed to escape.

Saroo Brierley eventually met a teenager who took him to a police station and reported that he might be a lost child.

The staff there attempted to locate his family, but Saroo Brierley did not know enough for them to sufficiently trace his hometown, and he was officially declared a lost child.

Saroo Brierley then confined her energy to looking for Saroo, travelling to different places on trains.

Saroo Brierley never gave up hope that Saroo was still alive and would return some day.

Years later, she opted to stay in Ganesh Talai rather than moving in with Kallu's family in Burhanpur so that Saroo Brierley would be able to find her if he returned.

Saroo Brierley originated as a mispronunciation of his given name, Sheru.

Saroo Brierley studied business and hospitality at the Australian International Hotel School in Canberra.

Saroo Brierley relied on his vague memories of the main features around Burhanpur railway station, although he knew little of the name of the station except that it began with the letter B Late one night in 2011, he came upon a small railway station that closely matched his childhood recollection of where he had become trapped in an empty carriage; the name of this station was Burhanpur, very close to a phonetic spelling of the name he remembered from his childhood ordeal.

Saroo Brierley followed the satellite images of the railway line north and found the town of Khandwa.

Saroo Brierley had no recollection of that name, but the town contained recognizable features, such as a fountain near the train tracks where he used to play.

Saroo Brierley was able to trace a path through the streets to what appeared to be the place where he and his family used to live.

In 2012, Saroo Brierley travelled to Khandwa in India and asked residents if they knew of any family that had lost their son 25 years prior.

Saroo Brierley showed photographs of himself as a child in Hobart.

Saroo Brierley was reunited with his sister, Shekila, and his surviving brother, Kallu, who are now a schoolteacher and factory manager, respectively.

Saroo Brierley bought his mother a house, so she no longer has to work.

Saroo Brierley offered to bring his mother to Australia, but she said she preferred to stay in India, while noting that Saroo Brierley does not speak much Hindi and she does not speak much English, so it would be difficult to communicate if she moved to Australia.

Saroo Brierley has cited cultural differences between Australia and India, and has indicated that she prefers living in India.

Saroo Brierley has returned to India and visited his biological family over a dozen times.

Lion, a 2016 film based on Saroo Brierley's life directed by Garth Davis and starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, and Rooney Mara, premiered to rave reviews and "Oscar buzz" at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Saroo Brierley was portrayed in the film by both newcomer Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.