The 2012 movie Life of Pi currently sits at No. 58 on my 100 favourite movies list. Whenever it comes on cable here, which is often, I sometimes immerse myself in it for the umpteenth time. When I very recently viewed the opening credits scene of the movie, I wondered why I hadn’t featured this wondrous music and scene on my blog, so here we are today. It’s a sad ending for that beautiful zoo. A memory that once felt real, now feels like a dream. Happens to the best of us.
Pi’s Lullaby was written for the opening of the 2012 film Life of Pi. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, the first song in Tamil ever to be so honoured.
Pi’s Lullaby was composed by Mychael Danna, with lyrics by Bombay Jayashri, who also performed the song. The track’s delicate Carnatic-style melody, paired with Jayashri’s ethereal vocals, creates an atmosphere of warmth and wonder, mirroring the tranquil visuals of the zoo at dawn (as seen in the opening scene at the bottom of this post). As the camera glides over lush enclosures bathed in golden light, showcasing animals in a state of peaceful coexistence, the lullaby’s gentle cadence reinforces the film’s themes of harmony, innocence, and the delicate balance of life.
IMDB Storyline:
In Canada, a writer visits the Indian storyteller Pi Patel and asks him to tell his life story. Pi tells the story of his childhood in Pondicherry, India, and the origin of his nickname. One day, his father, a zoo owner, explains that the municipality is no longer supporting the zoo and he has hence decided to move to Canada, where the animals the family owns would also be sold. They board on a Japanese cargo ship with the animals and out of the blue, there is a storm, followed by a shipwrecking. Pi survives in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a male Bengal tiger nicknamed Richard Parker. They are adrift in the Pacific Ocean, with aggressive hyena and Richard Parker getting hungry. Pi needs to find a way to survive.
English translation below:
Oh my love
Oh the delight of my eyes
Would you not sleep my flower?
Are you the peacock or the plumage of the peacock?
Are you the cuckoo or the cry of the cuckoo?
Are you the moon or the light of the moon?
Are you the eyelashes, or the dream?
Are you the flower or the nectar?
Are you the fruit or the sweetness?
The following was extracted from the Wikipedia reference below:
According to Jayashri’s blog, in order to convey the mood he wanted for the song, director Ang Lee told her “A child sleeps not because he is sleepy, but because he feels safe.”
Controversy
The Irayimman Thampi Memorial Trust alleged that the first eight lines of “Pi’s Lullaby” were not an original composition but a mere translation into Tamil of Irayimman Thampi’s famous lullaby in Malayalam, “Omanathinkal Kidavo”. Jayashri however maintains that she merely wrote what came to her heart and has denied the allegation against her.
Earlier, Jayashri had used Thampi’s lullaby in her Album named ‘Vatsalyam’, released in 2003
References:
1. Pi’s Lullaby – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
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