Lion Page #2

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above his head, like a weight-lifter. Straining.

GUDDU:

Okay. Put it down.

Guddu laughs at the absurdity and sheer balls.

EXT. UNDERPASS AND BUSY STREETS - SOON AFTER (NIGHT)

Travelling at breakneck speed - Saroo joyfully perched on the

handlebars - the boys emerge from the underpass.

The busy streets whizzing past. Guddu the daredevil.

A YOUNG MAN:

Go, Guddu!

On Saroo:
so proud of his big brother. This is living!

INT. TRAIN TO BURHANPUR - LATER (NIGHT)

Saroo and Guddu standing on a crowded night train. Hemmed in.

INT. SAME TRAIN - LATER (NIGHT)

The majority of the crowd are disembarking at a station.

In a deftly-practised move, Saroo and Guddu scurry like

monkeys under the seats, scavenging for scraps.

On Guddu:
he finds a peso. (It’s about 1/100th of a Rupee.)

GUDDU:

Peso!

On Saroo:
he grabs something. A peanut. He cracks the shell -

SAROO:

Guddu!

He splits the single peanut in two, and they eat it.

INT. SAME TRAIN - LATER (NIGHT)

The train is moving again. Plenty of seats now.

Saroo looks totally exhausted, his head resting on Guddu.

Guddu strokes Saroo, dreamily staring out into the blackness.

EXT. BURHANPUR PLATFORM - LATER (NIGHT)

The train pulls into Burhanpur Station. The PASSENGERS

disembark. Last off is Guddu, carrying sleeping Saroo.

Guddu sits Saroo down on a bench.

GUDDU:

Saroo - wake up!

Saroo simply groans, and curls up sideways.

GUDDU (CONT’D)

You have to walk.

SAROO:

(whiny)

I’m asleep ...

GUDDU:

You’re too little for late nights!

SAROO:

I’m asleep ... Don’t bother me.

Guddu looks around. Annoyed with himself. Back to Saroo:

GUDDU:

I’ll go sort things for tomorrow.

Then we can find a place to sleep.

SAROO:

Bring back a thousand jalebis.

GUDDU:

Very funny. Wait here. You don’t

move, okay?

Guddu leaps off the end of the platform. Familiar with it.

ON Saroo:
deep asleep in an instant.

ON Guddu:
tiny figure, hopping his way along the tracks.

FADE TO BLACK.

EXT. BURHANPUR PLATFORM - LATER (VERY LATE NIGHT)

FADE UP:
Saroo wakes. The platform now all but deserted -

empty, haunted. A few scattered, shadowy MEN in the distance.

Saroo looks around. Coming to consciousness. Where is Guddu?

SAROO:

Guddu?

Those shadowy MEN in the distance, huddled, smoking.

We feel Saroo’s total vulnerability to this weird open space.

A big empty train, standing in front of him.

SAROO (CONT’D)

Guddu?

He looks up at the giant WATER TOWER behind the platform.

Looming, almost alive - like some brooding iron monster.

What to do? Where on earth is Guddu? One of the shadowy men

gives Saroo one of those stares that never break.

A moment of decision. CLOSE on Saroo.

And just like that -step! -Saroo steps up onto the train.

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