He has possibly one of the best “rags to riches” stories ever imaginable, going straight from the slums of Mumbai to carrying a star-studded blockbuster film, acting along the likes of Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel in Lion.
But what became of little Sunny Pawar after his whirlwind introduction to fame?
Then eight years old, Pawar was discovered by the film’s director Garth Davis and casting director Kirsty McGregor after scouring through 2000 Mumbai school kids for the perfect child to emulate Indian-Australian businessman and author Saroo Brierley, whose incredible life story the film is based upon.
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“As soon as I saw [Pawar], he just felt like the kid that I’d been imagining and feeling, and then we got him into the rehearsal space and I put a camera on him. I just felt like we were watching our movie,” reflected Davis in an interview with Vulture.
After filming, Pawar enjoyed three months in the spotlight, participating in press tours across America and Australia on the shoulders of Patel and other members of the Hollywood elite.
He told 9honey in 2017, “He’s not just a good friend … he’s become brother-like with me.
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“I play a lot with him and during the time of filming, I used to play a lot with him and Nicole. And whenever he sees me, we still play.”
After his whirlwind encounter with fame, he returned back to his humble Mumbai home, which he shared with his entire extended family of about 50 people.
But lucky for us, this little hiatus wasn’t the end of Pawar’s acting journey.
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Following the release of Lion in 2016, we have since seen the little champ again playing a homeless child searching for family in Indian film Chippa (2019), and playing the young version of a crime lord in Netflix’s Sacred Games (2019).
In his most recent project, The Tiger’s Nest (2022), we see him like we never have before.
Now a full-fledged teenager, aged 16, Pawar took on the nuance-filled role of an orphan who rescued a tiger cub from poachers and set off to find sanctuary for the both of them in the Himalayan mountains.
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