Art & Entertainment

Life Of Pi

Comes across too pat and doesn’t cut deep enough. For many feeling abandoned, it may prove cathartic.

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Life Of Pi
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Starring: Sooraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Adil Husain
Directed by Ang Lee
Rating: ***

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Life of Pi is about a lot of things. About science and religion, rationality and spirituality, ecology and coexistence, finding hope in the midst of utter despair and about the larger forces of nature before whom man is insignificant. It’s also about how these forces make man realise that someone is watching over him.

These life lessons are communicated through the life and experiences of Piscine Molitor Patel, aka Pi, cast away in the ocean in a boat with a Royal Bengal Tiger, aka Richard Parker, for company. The journey makes him believe in God. And the audience is meant to find Him through Pi. It’s a philosophical, inward-looking text that seeks God through various religions, be it the sacrifice of the “Son” for the sins of the guilty in Christianity or the spectacle of the universe witnessed in Krishna’s open mouth as per Hinduism. Pi sneaks in some cheeky humour of his own, like thanking Vishnu for introducing him to Christ.

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Ang Lee works hard on externalising the thoughts for the screen. He tries to communicate them through spectacular imagery. The CGI and special effects range from meditative and enchanting to stunning. The extended voiceover does irritate, but Lee manages to fashion a quietly engaging and gentle narrative backed with a superb debut performance from Sooraj Sharma as Pi.

But in Lee’s tactile visuals someone also gets lost—God. Does the viewer find him like Pi? Not quite. The film comes across too pat and doesn’t cut deep enough. For many an individual, feeling abandoned and adrift in life it may prove cathartic and therapeutic. But what it asserts has been communicated just as compellingly, if not more, elsewhere. The cry of Pi in one sequence resonates the Book of Job. When he says, “I have lost everything, what more do you want?”, it’s about discovering inner strength when tested. Similarly, his last assertion that the “whole life is an act of letting go” was beautifully captured by Sahir Ludhianvi in two lines—“Utna hi upkar samajh koi jitna saath nibha de, janam maran ka mel hai sapna, wo sapna bisra de. Koi na sang mare”. Attachments and expectations are the biggest source of suffering, to let go of them is to find oneself. And, perhaps, God.

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High Fives

Bollywood

  1. Jab Tak Hai Jaan
  2. Son Of Sardaar
  3. 1920—Evil Returns
  4. Student Of The Year
  5. English Vinglish

Hollywood

  1. Twilight: Breaking Dawn-II
  2. Skyfall
  3. Lincoln
  4. Rise Of The Guardians
  5. Life of Pi

Country

  1. Red (Taylor Swift)
  2. Night Train (Jason Aldean)
  3. Winter’s Night (Lady Antebellum)
  4. It’s Christmas (Blake Shelton)
  5. X’mas With Scotty McCree

Courtesy: Film Information

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