Mumbai: Filmmaker Karan Johar says he cried his heart out after watching Nicole Kidman starrer ‘Lion’.

‘Lion’, which features an international cast led by Rooney Mara and British actor of Indian origin Dev Patel, apart from Indian actors like Deepti Naval, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Priyanka Bose and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, is a heart-wrenching true story of a couple who adopt a lost Indian boy — Saroo Brierley, and help him find his birth mother.

Karan also hailed Dev for portraying the role with conviction.

Karan on Friday tweeted: ‘Cried my heart out in LION... and absolutely loved Dev Patel... sad and cathartic....but so magical in many moments.’

The movie is based on non-fiction book ‘A Long Way Home’ by Brierley. Releasing in India on February 24, 2017, ‘Lion’ has been shot in Kolkata as well as in Australia.