Friday, December 28, 2012

Life of Pi - 2

I read this novel last year and blogged about it (here). They did an excellent job making a movie from this mystical/abstract novel. I am still scratching my head about how they made a movie with a 450-pound heavy Bengal tiger, showing him in such proximity to the central character, Pi. Irfan Khan is, as usual, outstanding, and Tabu continues to mesmerize with her voice and tone!


As I blogged earlier, the story revolves around a South Indian boy who gets in a shipwreck. Now, he has to survive in a small boat with a giant tiger. In contrast to the novel, which has the flaw of getting too dragged with the tiger and boy's interaction, the movie kept a good rhythm and pace. The film held the audience on the edge of the seat.


Central idea: We all have to live with our inner selves till we find our rescue at shore. We have to train our inner self, keeping instinctual evil under control. We have to feed our inner ego gently and make friends with him. The movie/novel is written in an abstract form - portraying different humans as animals (simple Buddhist monk as a Zebra, Pi's mother as a loving Orangutan, Evil cook as a Hyena, and self Pi as a Tiger) - meaning God's plan in our life also manifest as impersonation. Events in our life are all abstracts having other real meanings.


When Pi and Tiger get stuck on a faraway island - it is a tale that - sometime in our life, we think of a deadly island as a last destination, but we need to know that life is all about moving till we reach ashore among livings again.


Dialogues are powerful, like"People meant to go away - Amma, Abba, Ravi - but what hurt most - there was no goodbye or thank you, after we survive so long together."



P'S: Another Hollywood flick, "Parental Guidance," is also an excellent watch with a friendly family comedy of my favorite, Billy Crystal. 'Les Misérables' is also a good watch but nowhere near an actual novel.


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