Life of PI is awesome!

There have been a few films, and a few people whose films have been life altering. I mean, my life. These films influenced me, or made me take courageous steps towards a career in films. If Mani Ratnam was the person whose style i had always dreamed to adopt, Peter Jackson is the man whose visual spectacle made me dream of days when i would create a magnum opus of that scale. After watching '3 idiots', i felt i need to start working on my dream, and then i joined film school, studied for 2 years and reached nowhere. I made short films even i would not look back to. After learning the hardships of production, somewhere the confidence to build on my fantasy world got lost somewhere. Thats when i am seeing this spectacle.

Life of Pi is sheer awesomeness. It is created by Ang lee who i have to declare as the one who has best understood the medium of 3D. He has waited 6 years to bring out the product. His story is about the absolute beauty of storytelling. The real and fake all merges into a beautiful story, which brings out the best in man, not the worst. He focuses on the better hope and bonding, instead of loneliness and detachment. The movie starts with Irfan Khan narrating his life altering experience to a writer. He tells him about how the ship wrecks on which his parents and zoo animals they owned were being transported. That leaves him alone with a tiger on a life boat, and his self made raft. How he then tames the rebel tiger, how he fights with the tiger to establish his territory and how they finally survive the harsh sea. The story is just this much. But to visually transform the above lines to a magical adventure is the talent of the man named Ang Lee.

There are lot of sequences which justifies the decision of Ang Lee of using 3D. the ship wrecking sequences, the flying fish, the beautiful sea compositions, and lot more. This movie makes me believe that technology is a good thing for the future of cinema.

Acting wise, all the actors have done justice to their roles. Suraj Sharma is wonderful to watch. He keeps the Indian slang, but pulls out each dialog with conviction. The scenes and dialogs might not be realistic, or dark as many would like it. But, that's the movie about. We have the protagonist praying to three different gods and believing in all the religions in the world equally. He kills a fish and cries to Lord Vishnu and thanking him for providing him with food.

Irfan Khan is wonderful. He starts off as the narrator, without much scope for acting, but towards the end gives a heart warming monologue. Tabu has a short but an important role. So does Adil hussain, and Rafe Spall.

The cinematography is the highlight, which is very clear after me repeating about the visual enchantment of the movie. Each shot has been designed keeping 3D in mind, which unlike many other lazy 3D movies, makes the maximum use of the medium. The music by Mychael Danna 100% deserves a nomination in Golden Globes, and possibly in the Oscars. The Indian flavour is maintained throughout. Loved the music. Yes and huge applause to the EFX team.

Watch Life of Pi for the movie experience it has got to offer. You will be amazed. You will be blown away. Watch Life of Pi on your 21 inch TV set, and in 30 mins you will sleep. This movie brings back the passion in me and the curiosity that made me reach here in my career path. I thought i lost all motivation. I was hoping that 'Hobbit' would help me to get back to my feet, but i found my inspiration here.





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