Life of Pi

Watched Life of Pi at PVR IMax Bangalore.

 

The story as we are reminded time and again is about a ship-wrecked teenagers survival on the Pacific aboard a lifeboat, with just a Royal Bengal tiger for company, a story to strengthen your belief in God! The God portion - felt like it was being thrust in just because the author thought to be consistent.
Having not read the book I am not in a position to compare it with Ang Lee's treatment of the story. There were portions we were left wondering...

 

Not withstanding the cliched South Indians or the mildly irritating Indian accent, the movie was quite a watch. The visual effects spared us from yawning and kept us hooked, open jawed at times. The director having paintstakingly put together every frame , as would an artist do a landscape on his canvas. They were at times overwhelming , So much so that the kids ( Karthik especially) watched it bug-eyed, never once disturbing us with a "Amma loo" or "Appa get me a cheese popcorn now -I'm sooo hungry".

And, boy, Richard Parker - What a tiger! Arguably the most beautiful CG creation till date.

 

A good half of the story crawls along with a Rushdie-esque story telling, interest picking up with the wrecking of the ship, and the later portions hanging on just to the strength of the visuals.

 

Hey, was the bikini even invented when Pi's mamaji visited the Piscine Molitor in Paris? I thought the bikini made its intro after Indian Indepedence. Gotta google and check.

 

And, meerkats on a spot of an island in the Pacific?  A carnivorous island, with carnivorous flowers? Really? How were the thousands of meerkats surviving then? Am sure if some of our பெரிசுகள் see this, they will surely ask "என்ன விட்டலாச்சார்யா படமா இது ?"

The inspiration-dried writer visiting the adult Pi said it all : "Well it is all too much to take in... Its incredible!!"
As we left Sripradha said " I could write a story like this!" Ganesh interrupted "Mine will be the Life of Gi!, Karthik's would be the Life of Ki !!"