Dev Patel , Bafta Awards

Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel on Sunday took home a BAFTA Award for the Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “Lion” — a film about an Indian boy — which also got the Best Adapted Screenplay honour.

The winners for the 70th British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards were announced at the Royal Albert Hall here.

Dev, known for “Slumdog Millionaire”, was nominated for the award with Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Nocturnal Animals”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”), Hugh Grant (“Florence Foster Jenkins”) and Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”).

He had lost the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role award to Aaron Taylor-Johnson at the 74th Golden Globes recently, but after getting a BAFTA Award, chances are high he may bag an Oscar too.

Patel, who was suited and booted with a bow-tie in place for the ceremony here, had told IANS earlier: “I would be lying if I say that awards are not amazing. Awards can really change someone’s career. You get recognition.

“You might get scripts that you didn’t get earlier. But I never took up a project thinking about a golden statue.”

Directed by Garth Davis, “Lion” is based on Saroo Brierley’s best-selling autobiography “A Long Way Home”.

It’s a true story about an Indian boy who falls asleep on a train only to wake up and realise he is miles away from home in a strange land where he does not speak the language. He experiences many challenges before getting adopted by a couple in Australia. Years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

In the Best Adapted Screenplay category, “Lion” was contending with films “Arrival”, “Hacksaw Ridge”, “Hidden Figures” and “Nocturnal Animals”.