Rs.550 per ticket for this movie at the PVR IMAX 3D made me feel quite whacky before entering the auditorium. As soon as I entered, I was drawn immediately by the biggest screen that was mounted in there that reminded me of the Singapore IMAX experience that I enjoyed with my parents more than 15 years back when I was in highschool when IMAX was a luxury even in Singapore. After immersing myself in the PVR IMAX experience for a little over 2 hours, I was one among the many happy faces who walked out in glee.
More about the movie and the IMAX experience:
The story of Life of Pi as told by the protagonist Pi (Irfan Khan) to a novelist is about the greatest adventure in his life where he had to survive a shipwreck and spend some life changing moments with a fierce Bengal tiger on a lifeboat for a brief period of time.
The story shares very many metaphorical connotations with life like survival, breaking the barrier, confidence, facing destiny, accepting pain and many such things. Though it appears to be a long journey, the director engaged the viewers with brilliant special effects and an engaging script.
The special effects including the tiger that was graphically created like the rest of the animals, the shipwreck, storm, fish and other creatures in the ocean and the creatures in the abandoned island were amazing. The finer details have been worked out well and there were hardly any flaws in the technical department like camera and sound mixing. At times we feel that we are stranded in the middle of an ocean with a wild tiger staring at us.
The awesome visuals was amply complemented with equally good acting. Suraj Sharma as the young Pi was convincing and emoted well. Tabhu and Irfan Khan in supporting roles were equally impressive but had limited screen presence.
The IMAX experience once again was top class and this movie has to be enjoyed at least in 3D. Sometimes it feels like the characters tend to stick out their heads from the screen and we can almost touch them. Overall experience was terrific and I have no regrets for the money spent!
The man in charge, director Ang Lee, deserves an Oscar and nothing less than that, especially for choosing such a script and executing it with craft and class with the help of state of the art special effects and stunning visuals.
Kudos to the R&H Visual effects team and music director Mychael Danna (special thanks for the melodious Tamil title song).
Verdict: Watch it in 3D IMAX
Rating: 3.5/5
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