The heartfelt drama Lion, based on a true story about an Indian-Australian man who tracks down his mother using Google Earth 25 years after being lost as a child, has had a dream run since it debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada three months ago.

Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) plays Saroo Brierley, who wrote about tracking down his Indian mother in the memoir A Long Way Home, with Nicole Kidman and David Wenham as his adoptive parents and Rooney Mara (Carol) as his girlfriend.

And a month after opening in North America to qualify for the Hollywood awards season – landing four Golden Globe nominations and expected to be competing for multiple Oscars including best picture in the new year – Lion has finally come home.

Producer Emile Sherman, best-known for The King's Speech and the TV series Top of the Lake, described himself as "a bit nervous" ahead of the Australian premiere at Sydney's State Theatre on Monday night.

"It's a bit weird knowing that people have seen it in the US but they haven't seen it in my home country," he said.

Lion is directed by Garth Davis, making his film debut after Top of the Lake. He was joined at the premiere by Patel, who nails an impressive Australian accent in the film, Kidman, Wenham and screenwriter Luke Davies.

Any nerves dissipated with a standing ovation for the film and another rousing reception when Brierley and his adoptive parents Sue and John joined the filmmakers on stage.

Just as for The King's Speech, which won best picture and director at the Oscars five years ago, American distributor The Weinstein Company wanted to open Lion in the US first to build awareness during the awards season. The plan is to give it a wider release around the time it opens in Australia next month.

"You never expect to get the sort of accolades that the film is getting," Sherman said. "These things are like lightning in a bottle. You can't plan for it but we did feel the film would touch audiences."

Sherman said the film had stuck a chord because of the emotional issues covered in the story.

"It's about the bonds of family and love and the primal urge to find your mother," he said.

Kidman was immediately keen to play Sue Brierley, who struggles to hold her family together, after agent Ann Churchill-Brown sent her the script.

"I couldn't believe it was true," she said. "I called Ann and said 'it's a true story?' She said 'yeah, it's all true'."

Kidman quickly met Davis in New York, talking for hours about the film and shared experiences in their lives, then agreed to head back to Australia to shoot the film.

"I loved that it was a supporting role," she said. "But I also loved that it was this woman, Sue, who I've started to get to know really well."

On stage after the premiere,Patel described the film as "an anthem of love, a love that can transcend continents."

At the Golden Globes, Lion is up for best motion picture drama, best supporting actor for Patel, best supporting actress for Kidman and best original score. Patel and Kidman have also been nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards.