Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, is a magical adventure story centering on Pi Patel, the precocious son of a zoo keeper. Dwellers in Pondicherry, India, the family decides to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a huge freighter. After a shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all fighting for survival.
Pi Patel(Irrfan Khan), an immigrant from Pondicherry in India living in Montreal, Canada, is approached by a local novelist (Rafe Spall) who has been referred to him by his "uncle" (a family friend), believing that Pi's life story would make a great book. Pi relates an extended tale:
His parents had named him Piscine Molitor after a swimming pool in France. He changes his name to "Pi" (the mathematical symbol, ) when he begins secondary school(Gautam Belur), even repeating numerous digits of pi, because he is tired of being taunted with the nickname "Pissing Patel". His family owns a local zoo, and Pi takes an interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker because of a clerical error. Pi tries to feed the tiger, endangering himself to being attacked, and to teach him the reality of the tiger's nature as a carnivore, Pi's father(Adil Hussain) forces him to witness it killing a goat. He is raised Hindu and vegetarian, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and starts to follow all three religions as he "just wants to love God." When asked if he is also Jewish, he replies that he lectures in Kabbalah at the university.
When Pi is 16(Ayush Tandon), his father decides to close the zoo and move his family to Canada, and sell the zoo animals, to ensure a good future for his children. They book passage with their animals (to be sold in North America) on a Japanese freighter named the Tsimtsum. On board the ship, Pi's father gets into an argument with the ship's cook (Gerard Depardieu) when he speaks to Pi's mother(Tabu) rudely. One night, the ship encounters a heavy storm and begins to sink while Pi is on deck marveling at the storm. He tries to find his family, but a crew member throws him into a lifeboat; from the rough sea, he watches helplessly as the ship sinks, killing his family and its crew.
After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, and is joined by an orangutan who lost her offspring in the shipwreck. A spotted hyena emerges from the tarp covering half of the boat, and kills the zebra. To Pi's distress, the hyena also mortally wounds the orangutan in a fight. Suddenly Richard Parker emerges from under the tarp, and kills and eats the hyena.
Pi finds emergency food and water rations on the boat. He builds a small raft of flotation devices so that he can stay at a safe distance from the tiger. Realizing that he must feed the tiger to protect himself, Pi begins fishing, with some success. He also collects rain water for both to drink. At one point, he makes a board ladder for the tiger to climb back into the boat after it had jumped off to hunt fish. In a nighttime encounter with a breaching whale, Pi loses much of his supplies. Faced with starvation, he eats raw fish. After many days at sea, Pi realizes that he can no longer live on the tiny raft and trains the tiger Richard Parker to accept him in the boat. He also realizes that caring for the tiger is keeping him alive.
After weeks longer at sea, near the end of their strength, they reach a floating island of edible plants, supporting a forest, fresh water pools, and a large population of meerkats. Both Pi and Richard Parker eat and drink freely and regain strength. But at night the island transforms into a hostile environment, with the fresh water turning acidic, digesting all the dead fish that died in the pools. The tiger returns to the lifeboat at night. Pi finds a human tooth inside a plant flower and concludes that the plants are carnivorous, requiring them to leave the island.
The lifeboat eventually reaches the coast of Mexico. Finally back on land, Richard Parker stumbles away from Pi and stops at the edge of the jungle. Pi expects that the tiger will turn toward him and acknowledge him, but instead he looks into the jungle for a while and goes in. Pi, too weak to follow, lies in the sand. He is rescued by a group who carry him to hospital, but he weeps that the tiger had walked away without him.
In hospital, insurance agents for the Japanese freighter come to hear his account of the incident. They find his story unbelievable, and ask him to tell them what "really" happened, if only for the credibility of their report. He answers with a less fantastic but detailed account of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken leg, and the cook. In this story, the cook kills the sailor to use him as bait and food. In a later struggle, Pi's mother pushes him to safety on a smaller raft, and the cook stabs her as she falls overboard to the sharks. Later, Pi returns to grab the knife and kills the cook.
In the present, the writer notes parallels between the two stories: the orangutan was Pi's mother, the zebra was the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and Richard Parker, the tiger, was Pi himself. Pi asks him which story the writer prefers; he chooses the one with the tiger because it "is the better story", to which Pi responds, "And so it is with God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer notices a closing comment about the remarkable feat of surviving 227 days at sea, especially with a tiger - meaning that the agents chose that story as well.
His parents had named him Piscine Molitor after a swimming pool in France. He changes his name to "Pi" (the mathematical symbol, ) when he begins secondary school(Gautam Belur), even repeating numerous digits of pi, because he is tired of being taunted with the nickname "Pissing Patel". His family owns a local zoo, and Pi takes an interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker because of a clerical error. Pi tries to feed the tiger, endangering himself to being attacked, and to teach him the reality of the tiger's nature as a carnivore, Pi's father(Adil Hussain) forces him to witness it killing a goat. He is raised Hindu and vegetarian, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and starts to follow all three religions as he "just wants to love God." When asked if he is also Jewish, he replies that he lectures in Kabbalah at the university.
When Pi is 16(Ayush Tandon), his father decides to close the zoo and move his family to Canada, and sell the zoo animals, to ensure a good future for his children. They book passage with their animals (to be sold in North America) on a Japanese freighter named the Tsimtsum. On board the ship, Pi's father gets into an argument with the ship's cook (Gerard Depardieu) when he speaks to Pi's mother(Tabu) rudely. One night, the ship encounters a heavy storm and begins to sink while Pi is on deck marveling at the storm. He tries to find his family, but a crew member throws him into a lifeboat; from the rough sea, he watches helplessly as the ship sinks, killing his family and its crew.
After the storm, Pi finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, and is joined by an orangutan who lost her offspring in the shipwreck. A spotted hyena emerges from the tarp covering half of the boat, and kills the zebra. To Pi's distress, the hyena also mortally wounds the orangutan in a fight. Suddenly Richard Parker emerges from under the tarp, and kills and eats the hyena.
Pi finds emergency food and water rations on the boat. He builds a small raft of flotation devices so that he can stay at a safe distance from the tiger. Realizing that he must feed the tiger to protect himself, Pi begins fishing, with some success. He also collects rain water for both to drink. At one point, he makes a board ladder for the tiger to climb back into the boat after it had jumped off to hunt fish. In a nighttime encounter with a breaching whale, Pi loses much of his supplies. Faced with starvation, he eats raw fish. After many days at sea, Pi realizes that he can no longer live on the tiny raft and trains the tiger Richard Parker to accept him in the boat. He also realizes that caring for the tiger is keeping him alive.
After weeks longer at sea, near the end of their strength, they reach a floating island of edible plants, supporting a forest, fresh water pools, and a large population of meerkats. Both Pi and Richard Parker eat and drink freely and regain strength. But at night the island transforms into a hostile environment, with the fresh water turning acidic, digesting all the dead fish that died in the pools. The tiger returns to the lifeboat at night. Pi finds a human tooth inside a plant flower and concludes that the plants are carnivorous, requiring them to leave the island.
The lifeboat eventually reaches the coast of Mexico. Finally back on land, Richard Parker stumbles away from Pi and stops at the edge of the jungle. Pi expects that the tiger will turn toward him and acknowledge him, but instead he looks into the jungle for a while and goes in. Pi, too weak to follow, lies in the sand. He is rescued by a group who carry him to hospital, but he weeps that the tiger had walked away without him.
In hospital, insurance agents for the Japanese freighter come to hear his account of the incident. They find his story unbelievable, and ask him to tell them what "really" happened, if only for the credibility of their report. He answers with a less fantastic but detailed account of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken leg, and the cook. In this story, the cook kills the sailor to use him as bait and food. In a later struggle, Pi's mother pushes him to safety on a smaller raft, and the cook stabs her as she falls overboard to the sharks. Later, Pi returns to grab the knife and kills the cook.
In the present, the writer notes parallels between the two stories: the orangutan was Pi's mother, the zebra was the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and Richard Parker, the tiger, was Pi himself. Pi asks him which story the writer prefers; he chooses the one with the tiger because it "is the better story", to which Pi responds, "And so it is with God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer notices a closing comment about the remarkable feat of surviving 227 days at sea, especially with a tiger - meaning that the agents chose that story as well.
Memorable Quotes for Life of PI :
Santosh Patel: You think tiger is your friend, he is an animal, not a playmate.
Pi Patel: Animals have souls... I have seen it in their eyes.
Pi Patel: Animals have souls... I have seen it in their eyes.
Adult Pi Patel: With one word, my name went from an elegant French swimming pool to a stinking Indian latrine - I was pissing everywhere.
Adult Pi Patel: What has mamaji already told you?
Writer: He said you had a story that would make me believe in God.
Adult Pi Patel: [laughs] He would say that about a nice meal.
Writer: He said you had a story that would make me believe in God.
Adult Pi Patel: [laughs] He would say that about a nice meal.
Adult Pi Patel: [after describing what the priest in the Church told him about Jesus] That made no sense!
Pi Patel (11: Thank you Vishnu, for introducing me to Christ.
Adult Pi Patel: Faith is a house with many rooms.
Writer: But no room for doubt?
Adult Pi Patel: Oh plenty, on every floor. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested.
Writer: But no room for doubt?
Adult Pi Patel: Oh plenty, on every floor. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested.
Adult Pi Patel: Now we have to send our little boy to the middle of the Pacific.
Writer: And make me believe in God.
Adult Pi Patel: Yes, we will get there.
Writer: And make me believe in God.
Adult Pi Patel: Yes, we will get there.
Pi Patel: I can eat the biscuits, but God made tigers carnivorous, so I must learn to catch fish. If I don't, I'm afraid his last meal would be a skinny vegetarian boy.
Pi Patel: [on killing a fish] Thank you Lord Vishnu. Thank you for coming in the form of a fish and saving our lives.
Pi Patel: [facing a storm on the lifeboat] Richard Parker, come out you have to see this! It's beautiful!
Adult Pi Patel: I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.
Younger Insurance Investigator: [with a look of disbelief] Bananas don't float. You said the Orangutan floated to you in a bundle of bananas, but bananas don't float.
Adult Pi Patel: So which story do you prefer?
Writer: The one with the tiger. That's the better story.
Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.
Writer: [smiles] It's an amazing story.
Writer: The one with the tiger. That's the better story.
Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.
Writer: [smiles] It's an amazing story.
Writer: [reading off the report] Mr. Patel's is an astounding story, courage and endurance unparalleled in the history of ship-wrecks. Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.
Santosh Patel: Religion is obscurity.
Santosh Patel: Religion is darkness.
Pi Patel: Above all: don't lose hope.
Pi Patel: [during a massive storm, Pi observes a terrified Richard Parker being thrown around by waves crashing into the boat] Why are you scaring him? I lost my family! I lost everything! I surrender! What more do you want?
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