Which story do you prefer?. Review on Life of Pi

I picked this novel few years back, more for my book collection rather with intentions of reading it actually.This book fell in the list of "some other day". Till date I have not read the book. I heard all the reviews talking about religion and philosophy and in my life then I had least interest in these.

Last year when this movie was released, I did wanted to watch it. Just because I love movies made from books. But surprisingly I read bad reviews about this film and eventually this fell of my list of movies to watch.This year it got back on my list, simply cause I have been reading a lot about the director Ang Lee which are floating around the social networks and I decided to see his work.

I really loved the movie( I would have loved the book even more if I had gotten myself to read it).

A story of survival, religion, imagination, beliefs and most importantly how much a human wants to stay connected to something, anything a living or non-living. If you were to compare the movie with "Cast Away" I would say they two are unique in their own ways. I loved the ordeals of surviving a ship wreck, and stranded alone in the Cast Away movie more than Life of Pi. In both the movies protagonists connect with something they think is their own reflection. Something that keeps them alive. In Cast Away its a football and in Life of Pi, its a Bengal Tiger. They have conversations with these, they bond with these. Thinking of which, how much a human needs to be connected? How much a conversation with the other keeps you sane? I myself at times( ah who am I kidding

with, most of the times), talk with my pet or with myself when am alone. These very "HUMAN" aspects are brilliantly portrayed in this movie.

"Words are all I have left to hang onto. Everything's all mixed up, fragmented, can't tell daydreams, night dreams from reality anymore."

And does a human stop there. They form a relationship. They show their emotions, tantrums, just to feel alive. And then goes way beyond to expectations. At the end of their journey when the protagonist and tiger survive and reach an island, he cries out loud not cause he is alive, but cause the tiger left him without saying a goodbye. The entire movie runs on this theme of "never getting a chance to goodbye". This scene is the best of all.

"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."

The ending is what makes the movie stand apart. Pi narrates two stories of what actually happened. One is what we see in the movie and the other is a more realistic story that everybody especially people who are way too logical can believe in. This puts both the stories in question as to which is true. Director/ author did not leave the choice to us to decide which story is true. Rather the question is which story do you prefer to believe in? Both are stories of survival, and at the end Pi survives, after losing his entire family and past in a ship wreckage.

"Without Richard Parker, I would have died by now. My fear of him keeps me alert. Tending to his needs gives my life purpose."

At the end our belief system, religion are all stories. Stories that came out of imagination or mostly from real-life experiences. How you narrate it to yourself or others, is what makes the story or the experience interseting, I need to dig my collection to read the book now!