Maneka Gandhi to host special screening of Lion

Mumbai Feb 20 (IANS) Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi will host a special screening of the Oscar-nominated film Lion here. The invite list includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi the movie s distributor has said.

Cabinet ministers and other dignitaries will be invited for the screening later this week before the film s release on Friday read a statement.

We are glad that a person of such repute such as Maneka Gandhi has expressed her desire to host a screening of Lion . It s for a wise cause and thought and currently we are in process of setting up the screening in the coming week in Delhi Avinaash Jumani CEO at Pictureworks (film s distributor in India) said in a statement.

Gandhi an animal rights activist and environmentalist recently achieved success in tracking down 100 children and she is going to reunite them with their parents next month.

The fact that it finds resonance with the story of Lion -- about an Indian boy who when separated from his biological family is adopted by an Australian couple in Australia and then years later he finds his lost family using Google Earth -- makes it apt for Gandhi to host the screening.

Even the makers of Lion had started The #LIONHEART Campaign for helping street children by joining hands with India-based NGO Magic Bus Childline and Railway Children.

Directed by Garth Davis the movie is based on Saroo Brierley s best-selling autobiography A Long Way Home. It features child actor Sunny Pawar with Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman in pivotal roles.

--IANS
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