I loved shooting in Australia: Sunny Pawar

Mumbai, Jan 29: Child actor Sunny Pawar who made his debut in acclaimed Hollywood film "Lion" on Saturday said that he enjoyed shooting in Australian cities and developed a great bonding with his co-actor Dev Patel.

"Although we shot in Bhopal, Kolkata I loved shooting in Australia. The place was so beautiful. There were so many places to roam and play around, we went there after shooting and I loved the place," the young actor told media here.

The film "Lion", an adaptation of the non-fiction book "A Long Way Home", revolves around the story of a boy Saroo looking for his roots.

While Dev Patel plays the lead character, Sunny played the young Saroo in the film.

The young boy, who studies in class III at the Air India Modern School, Kalina and lives in a slum with his parents and two young siblings in Mumbai, went through an audition to bag the role.

"I went to the audition where they gave me some lines and asked me to tell them looking into the camera. I did that, and then I got to know that I am selected for the role," Sunny said.

Recalling the first day of the shooting, he said, "Director sir just asked me to run and I ran! I did not feel any pressure of facing camera or shooting first time."

While the film received six Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, Sunny Pawar already has bagged Grand Jury Prize (Special Mention) at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and he is very thrilled about the fact that he walked the red carpet wearing a black suite like his "new friend" Dev Patel at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles.

As the shooting went on for more than a year, though he found it little tough to manage study and acting both, Sunny enjoyed the process throughout.

"My teachers congratulate me and they encourage me to study. Though I want to act, I enjoy my studies too, especially mathematics as that is my favourite subject," said the young Ajay Devgan fan.

Sunny said, "After the shooting I and Dev (Patel, actor) would play cricket and would goof around on the set. It was so much fun. Dev cannot speak in Hindi, he would talk to me in English, and I would reply in Hindi, there was no language problem!"

When asked about how he managed to do that, the young actor said, "I understand English, and cannot speak though. Nevertheless, I will learn it, and then I will make more friends."

Directed by Garth Davis, featuring Dev Patel, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Priyanka Bose among others, the film "Lion" released in 20th January in Britain.