Saroo Brierley

When Saroo Brierley's story of his years-long search for his long lost family was first revealed, it tugged at the heartstrings of millions. It was a remarkable story, filled with mystery, family love and even the miracle of the latest technology. Raised by a poverty-stricken mother in the heartland of northern India, Saroo was separated from his family in 1986 when he accidentally ended up on a train that took him 1500 km south to the teeming city of Calcutta. His story of his separation, living by his wits on the streets and eventual adoption by an Australian family, was the stuff of Hollywood films. Brought up in a well-to-do home in Tasmania, he never forgot his family back in India, even though he didn't even know the name of the town where he was born. It wasn't until years later, as a college student, that he came upon the tools to help him find them: Google Earth. Following train tracks out of Calcutta, with only the memory of the train station where he began his journey and the fountain in the town square where he played as a child, he spent years looking for clues to his family's location. In 2011 he found the station and then the town's name. He tracked down his family using a local Facebook page run by the villagers of his old home town. His book A Long Way Home chronicled this search, up to the day he eventually reunited with his mother, who had never given up hope of finding him. The film rights for the book became the center of a fierce bidding war, eventually optioned by The Weinstein Company for development, with Garth Davis attached to direct and "The King's Speech" (2010) producers Ian Canning and Emile Sherman producing.