Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Dev Patel star, while Harvey Weinstein gave $12m boost to Saroo Brierley movie, Lion

A FILM idea pitched to Hollywood four years ago by two northern beaches dads is set for release this year. The true story about an Indian boy adopted by a Tasmanian couple stars Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel.

IT reads like a script for a Hollywood movie — two dads from Sydney’s northern beaches have seen their movie idea become a reality with producer Harvey Weinstein investing $12m and A-list actors Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara and Dev Patel starring in it.

The film — Lion — is based on the real-life story of Indian boy Saroo Brierley who was adopted by a Tasmanian couple from an orphanage after he was sent there when he became separated from his family.

Remarkably, 25 years later, Mr Brierley located his birth mother after first tracking down the village he came from using vague memories and Google Earth.

The movie is the real-life tale of Saroo Brierley, an Indian orphan adopted by a Tasmanian couple, who tracked down his parents after 25 years.

Businessmen dads — Andrew Fraser and Shahen Mekertichian — who run the Brookvale based Sunstar Entertainment company — said the journey had taken four years from first pitch to finished film.

With backgrounds in banking, sports TV and talent management, the pair was able to navigate the cut-throat Hollywood film industry before the film was taken to Cannes in 2014 and grabbed the attention of Weinstein whose Oscar-winning production company will distribute the film.

Saroo Brierley with his adopted parents, from Tasmania. he was separated from his family in India and put up for adoption. but he found them, 25-years later.

It’s quite a coup for the mild mannered business duo who admit it’s the stuff of dreams.

“It’s a mixture of fate, luck and hard work,” Mr Fraser said.

“No one can believe it. It’s four years of hard slog coming to fruition.”

But the pair reckons the story is the key to its success. Mr Brierley was only five when he became lost.

Poverty-stricken, he and his brother would travel into the city from home to beg on train carriages but one day they were separated and he was unable to find his way home.

Eventually he ended up being declared a lost child and sent to an orphanage. Sadly, a misunderstanding meant his mother was told he’d been killed.

Saroo Brierley with his biological mother Kamla and little sister Sahkila back home in India.

After growing up in Tasmania, Mr Brierley turned to Google maps to search along the railway routes to try to find his village, using vague memories from his childhood.

When he found what he thought was the village, he contacted locals on Facebook before eventually going back to India and tracking down his mother.

He then penned a book about his life — A Long Way From Home — which was picked up by American magazine Vanity Fair and spread around the world.

Rooney Mara will play Saroo’s girlfriend in the film, Lion. (Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic)

Nicole Kidman pictured arriving in Sydney for Easter, will play Saroo’s adopted mother. Picture: John Grainger

Mr Mekertichian, a father of two, said despite the strength of the story, it was tough for both men to stand their ground on several matters.

“We had a lot of production houses wanting to take the story but they all wanted to change it, saying things like ‘why can’t we have him adopted to a Baltimore family?

“But if we’d taken a weaker position Hollywood would eat you up and we didn’t jump at the first opportunity.”

Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel, right, will be the leading man in the movie Lion, pictured with director Garth Davis.

The duo hopes to follow Narrabeen Oscar-winner Ben Osmo by scooping a gold statue with the flick, which is directed by Garth Davis and comes out later this year.

“I think he will win the Oscar,” said Mr Fraser, who has three children with wife Mandy and is president of Manly Cricket Club. “It’s a beautiful film.”