Mumbai
I watched Life of Pi years ago and starkly remember the scene where Pi is lost on the carnivorous island which looks spectacular with glowing leaves, flowers, fishes and stands out as an Avatar scene. I always wanted to be a part of that scene in reality and visit an island like that. Just last year, while in a long-distance relationship - my partner read Life of Pi to me on call. The whole book. It took hours and hours of reading on call but 7 months in - we made it through the book.
While reading the book - I remember being drawn to Pi’s descriptions of his life in the zoo in India and growing up so close to his family. I also remember the beautiful quote by Yann Martel from the book - “You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.” Well this was also the round-up of my long-distance relationship - us trying to make the best of it while reading Life of Pi to each other on call.
When I heard - Life of Pi - the Broadway production has come to NMACC in Mumbai, I couldn’t help but go for the very first show. Life of Pi did not disappoint. It was a visual treat like no other immersing me in rural India, oceans, skies, marine life, and hospital beds alike. I never imagined these things falling into the same sentence.
To me, Life of Pi signifies not only childhood but also a fragment of love across continents - my own love story. While watching the drama unfold on stage, I realised how the theatrical was a world of its own - different from the book and the movie. It took me aback and drew my attention towards the relationship Pi shared with his hometown and his family.
Watching Pi hallucinating, feeling trauma and missing his whole sense of being in the hospital bed away from his home country made me look back to pangs of homesickness I felt when I was living away from my family. Perhaps it wasn’t just the whole ordeal of losing Richard Parker that made Pi feel the way he did, Pi was also missing his family. During the theatrical, we see Pi has visions related to his family and each member of the family is talking to him and guiding him through his path to continue surviving. Is the message of Life of Pi eventually that family is the key to survival? I think so.
The most stunning visual during the play was when Pi is lying down on the boat, it is entirely dark and he is watching stars in the sky. Richard Parker and Pi are alone on the boat and Pi is looking at the sky and thinking about God. The scene is paired with ceiling blue lights in the auditorium and beautiful bulbs on stage signifying the stars. This was one of the scenes which came most alive during the live theatrical. I couldn’t imagine this being created in a movie and I didn’t even imagine this while reading. I wanted to be under a sky like that with someone I love.
What stood to be one of the most prominent experiences in the theatrical is when Pi continues having faith in the universe despite all the hardships he has been through. He doesn’t question if God is there but he simply believes it and continues living without water in the middle of the ocean where he is stranded for days to come. As someone who is still in a long-distance relationship and doesn’t see the shore, this meant a whole lot to me. I’m not sure if faith in life ensures we will make it to wherever we want, but it definitely gives us the strength to go further.
Eventually Pi tries to talk to a therapist of sorts who is trying to help him evaluate his experience. Pi offers two different narratives of his experience while being stranded in the ocean. The therapist wasn’t there to see what really happened and just goes ahead with the option that’s more convenient for her to believe. Pi also has severe trauma because of his experiences in the ocean and he cannot analyse his life experiences deeply. He feels uncomfortable while talking about his experience and stammers. He has lost his family and Richard Parker - the Royal Bengal tiger who gave him company on the boat.
His deep loss explains how even though we spend a brief amount of time with someone (Pi spent 227 days with Richard Parker in the ocean), we develop a deep connection and when they leave, we experience trauma and cannot even analyse the situation fully. We just make whatever we want of the experience.
Some analysts say Richard Parker represents Pi himself. I believe Richard Parker represents the lover that Pi needs in his life. Or the self love that Pi never gave himself. While some people believe Life of Pi is a story about adventure. I believe Life of Pi is a romantic love story between Pi and Richard Parker.
For love, we can all hope we are loved more than we can ever love ourselves.