Claim: Lion features Dev Patel.

Lion is a 2016 biographical film directed by Garth Davis -LRB- in his feature debut -RRB- and written by Luke Davies , based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose . The film stars Dev Patel , Rooney Mara , David Wenham and Nicole Kidman .   The film , which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10 , 2016 , was given a limited release on November 25 , 2016 , by the Weinstein Company before opening generally on January 6 , 2017 . It was released in Australia on January 19 , 2017 and in the United Kingdom on January 20 , 2017 .