Life of Pi

As a general I am of the opinion that books should not be adapted for the screen as they are never able to live up to the narrative. Added to this, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi was considered by many as one of those books which won’t get to the big screen, given the style of the narrative. This got negated by Ang Lee’s film by the same name in 3D.

The story starts where a writer is looking for ideas and is directed towards the adult version of Pi (played by Irfan Khan), who agrees to narrate the story which will amaze the write & make him believe in God. His narration starts from the childhood of Pi Patel & his curiosity about God & different religions, something that did not go well with his father’s viewpoints. The family packs up their zoo & takes a freighter to America with the animals, which is hit by a severe storm & drowns it. 

Pi (played by Suraj Sharma, a new comer) is forced to escape on a lifeboat with a couple of the animals who are later joined by ‘Richard Parker’, the Bengal Tiger. While waiting for rescue in the start, only Richard Parker survives from the band of animals that join Pi on the lifeboat.

From here on their relationship starts, which is at times, like that of a domestic pet & at times it’s a typical frightening wild one. Pi looks for ways in which he can ensure Richard Parker’s survival & that in return given him hope for his own survival as well. There are scenes where the mighty Bengal tiger acts just any domestic cat. I for one could not stop making parallels with my own pet. 

The movie however, lacks at being able to convey the philosophical narrative from the book. However, what the movie lacks it covers for in the amazing 3D effects that have been used, quality acting by Suraj Sharma, who portrayed the varying emotions with perfection and most of all the creation of the new non-human favorite character of Richard Parker.  

All in all it is worth spending your time & money on.  

Subtle is not our Style

Subtle is clearly not our style, especially when it comes to advertising and marketing. On one side one does feel good that marketers are looking at other available options as well and not just sticking to the comfort zone of traditional marketing. However, the low quality of the work and ideas squeeze all the positive feeling from you.  

Television shows and movies are a very good medium for promoting one’s product. People follow celebrities and in their following they do get influenced by what they get to see in the TV programs and movies.

Having said that, the Pakistani advertisers need to be reminded that this fan following does not mean that people are stupid and can’t identify a deliberate attempt of marketing. The most recent example of this is Nokia’s latest dual sim phone. ‘Bulbulay’ a comedy drama was used for the promotion and the actors were made to state lines which described the features of the phone in such a blank manner, that in a better world they would not even qualify to work in a commercial. Then the same show was used for a similar kind of promotion for one of the Q-mobile sets.

This is not the only example of bad marketing of this sort. I don’t remember the name of the show but we got to see the actors eating Amore ice cream and before it was served there was this similar monotone delivery of misfit dialogues.

I did suggest that marketers watch The Big Bang Theory, to get some inspiration as to how these shows can be used for the promotion of a product. The cool and subtle manner in which Dell laptops and other gadgets get promoted, without making the show lose its credibility as labeling it as a commercial front.