All language subtitles for LIFE_OF_PI.Title800_eng_4608

(TAMIL SONG PLAYING)

(SQUAWKING)

WRITER: So you were raised
in a zoo?

Pl: Born and raised.

In Pondicherry, in what was
the French part of India.

My father owned the zoo...

and I was
delivered on short notice
by a herpetologist...

who was there to check
on the Bengal monitor lizard.

Mother and I
were both healthy...

but the poor lizard escaped...

and was trampled
by a frightened cassowary.

The way of karma, huh?

The way of God.

That's quite a story.

I had assumed
your father was a

mathematician
because of your name.

Far from it,
I was named after
a swimming pool.

There is
a swimming pool named "Pi"?
(CHUCKLES)

You see,
my uncle Francis was born

with too much
water in his lungs.

They say the doctors
swung Francis around

by the ankles to
clear the water out...

and that's what gave him
the huge chest
and skinny legs...

that made him
such a great swimmer.

Is Francis
actually your uncle?

He said he was
friends with your father.

He's my honorary uncle,
I call him Mamaiji.

My father's best friend,
my swimming guru.

Pl: I trained with him
three times a week
at the ashram.

His lessons would
save my life in the end.
(COUGHING)

A mouthful of water
will not harm you,
but panic will.

Remember to breathe now,
don't hold your breath.

Good boy.

I hope you don't
mind vegetarian.

No, no. Not at all.

And your name?
Huh?

You were going to tell me
how you got
your name, I think.

Oh, yes.
I got it from something
Mamaji once told my father.

You see,
most travelers collect

postcards or teacups
on their journeys...

but not Mamaiji.

Mamayji collects
swimming pools.

He swims in every
pool he comes upon.

One day, Mamaji
said to my father that,

of all the pools
in the world. ..

the most beautiful was
a public pool in Paris.

That the water
there was so clear,

you could make
your morning coffee
with it.

That a single swim
there changed his life.

Before I was born, he said...

“If you want your son
to have a clean soul...

"you must take him one day
to swim
in the Piscine Molitor."

I never
understood why my father
took this so much to heart.

But he did, and I was named
"Piscine Molitor Patel."

Imagine me trying
to explain that name.

[ barely made it to
the age of 11 before...

BOY: Hey, Piscine!

Are you pissing right now?
(ALL LAUGHING)

Look at him,
he's pissing!

Pl: With one word,
my name went from an elegant
French swimming pool...

to a stinking
Indian latrine.

I was "Pissing” everywhere.

No Pissing
in the schoolyard!
(KIDS LAUGHING)

Pl: Even the teachers
Started doing it.

Not deliberately, of course.

S0, then, what might occur
if we release gas too quickly?

Pissing?

He said "Pissing.”

(ALL MURMURING)

(LAUGHING)

That's enough!
Order! Order!

Pl. When we returned
the next year for
our first day of school,

I was prepared.

Present, sir.

Piscine Patel.

Good morning.
I am Piscine Molitor Patel.

Known to all as...

Pi, the sixteenth letter
of the Greek alphabet...

which is also
used in mathematics
to represent the ratio...

of any circle's circumference
to its diameter.

An irrational number
of infinite length,

usually rounded
to three digits...

as 3.14.

Pi.

Very impressive, PiI.
Now, sit down.

WRITER: And from then on,
you were "Pi"?

Pl: Well, no, not quite.

Nice try, Pissing.

(LAUGHING)

Pl. But I still had the whole
day ahead of me.

French class was nexlt.

Je m'appelle
Piscine Molitor Patel.

Dit Pi.

Pl: Then, geography.

These are the first
20 decimal places of pi.

Pl. My last class
of the day
was mathematics.

Slowly, slowly, slowly.

STUDENTS: Three.
Seven. Five. Eight. Nine.

Eight. Five. Eight. Nine.

It's right.
He's really doing this.

(CHANTING) Pi! Pi! Pi!

Pl. By the end of that day,
I was Pi Patel, school legend.

Um, Mamaji tells me
you're a legend
among sailors, too.

Out there, all alone.

Oh, I don't even know
how to sail.

And I wasn't alone out there.
Richard Parker was with me.

Richard Parker?

Mamayji didn't tell me
everything.

He just said
I should look you up
when I got back to Montreal.

S0, what were you
doing in Pondicherry?

Writing a novel.

By the way,
I enjoyed your first book.

S0, this new one,
is it setin India?

No, Portugal, actually.
But it's cheaper
living in India.

Ah, well,
I look forward
to reading it.

You can't.

I threw It out.

Two years
trying to bring
this thing to life...

and then one day,
it sputtered,
coughed and died.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Uh, I was sitting in
this coffee house in
Pondicherry one afternoon,

mourning my loss...

when this old man
at the table next to me
struck up a conversation.

Yeah, Mamaji,
he does that.

When I told him
about my abandoned book,
he said...

(IMITATES INDIAN ACCENT)
"So, a Canadian
who's come to French India

"In search of a story."

"Well, my friend,
I know an Indian
in French Canada...

"with the most
incredible story to tell.

"It must be fate
that the two of you
should meet."

Well, I haven't spoken
about Richard Parker
in SO many years.

So, what has
Mamaji already told you?

He said you had a story
that would make me
believe in God.

(CHUCKLES) He would
say that about a nice meal.

As for God,
I can only tell you
my story.

You will decide for yourself
what you believe.

Fair enough.

Let's see, then.
Where to begin?

Pondicherry
is the French Riviera
of India.

In the streets
closest to the ocean,

you might think
you were in
the south of France.

A few blocks inland,
there's a canal.

Just beyond that
is Indian Pondicherry.

And the Muslim quarter
is just to the west.

When the French
handed Pondicherry
back tous in 1954...

the town decided that
some sort of
commemoration was in order.

My father,
who was a clever businessman,
came up with one.

He ran a hotel,
and he got
the idea to open a zoo...

in the local
botanical gardens instead.

(SPEAKING IN TAMIL)

Pl. As it also happened,
my mother was
a botanist in the gardens.

They met,
married, and a year later
my brother Ravi was born.

I came two years
after that.

It sounds magical,
growing up in...

Amen.

Yeah, let's eat.

I didn't know
Hindus said "amen."

Catholic Hindus do.

Catholic Hindus?

We get to feel guilty
before hundreds of gods,
instead of just one.

(CHUCKLES)
But you're a Hindu first?

None of us knows God
until someone introduces us.

I was first
introduced to God
as a Hindu.

There are 33 million gods
in the Hindu religion.

How can I not
come to know
a few of them?

I met Krishna first.

(GITA SPEAKING IN TAMIL)

Yashoda once accused
baby Krishna of eating dirt.

" lut, tut you naugnty boy -
you shouldn't do that."

But he didn't!

That's what ne told her.

l didn't eat dirt.”

Yashoda said,
"No? Well then. "

"Open your mouth."

S0 Krishna opened his mouth.

And what do you think
Yashoda saw?

What?

She saw In Krishna's mouth
the whole entire universe.

Pl. The gods were my
superheroes growing up.

Hanuman, the monkey god...

lifting an entire mountain
to save his friend Lakshman.

Ganesh, the elephant-headed...

risking his life
to defend the honor
of his mother, Parvati.

Vishnu, the supreme soul,
the source of all things.

Vishnu sleeps, floating
on the shoreless
cosSmic ocean...

and we are
the stuff of his dreaming.

SANTOSH: Spectacle.

Don't let these stories
and pretty lights
fool you, boys.

Religion is darkness.

Pl: My dear appa believed
himself part of the new India.

As a child,
he had had polio.

He used to lie in bed
racked with pain,
wondering where God was.

In the end,
God didn't save him,
Western medicine did.

My amma went to college...

and thought her family
was part of
the new India as well...

until her parents
cut her off...

because they thought
she was marrying beneath her.

Her religion was
the only link
she had to her past.

I met Christ
in the mountains
when I was 12.

We were visiting relatives,
tea growers in Munnar.

It was our third day there.
Ravi and I were
terribly bored.

Challenge.
I'll give you two rupees.

Run in to that church
and drink the holy water.

PRIEST: You must be thirsty.

Here.

I brought you this.

Why would a god do that?

Why would
He send His own son...

to suffer for the sins
of ordinary people?

Because He loves us.

God made Himself
approachable to us,

human,
so we could understand Him.

We can't understand God
in all His perfection.

But we can
understand God's son

and His suffering
as we would a brother's.

That made no sense.

Sacrificing the innocent
to atone for the sins
of the guilty...

What kind of love
is that?

But this son...

I couldn't get
him out of my head.

YOUNG PI: If God is so
perfect and we are not...

why would He want
to create all this?

Why does He
need us at all?

All you have to know
is that He loves us.

God so loved this world
that He gave His only son.

Pl. The longer
I listened to the priest...

the more I came to like
this son of God.

Thank you, Vishnu,
for introducing me to Christ.

I came to faith
through Hinduism

and I found God's
love through Christ.

But God wasn't
finished with me yet.

(MUEZZIN CALLING)

Pl. God works
in mysterious ways.

And so it was,
He introduced Himself again.

This time
by the name of Allah.

(MUEZZIN CALLING)

Allahu Akbar.

Pl. My Arabic
was never very good...

but the sound
and feel of the words
brought me closer to God.

In performing Salah...

the ground I touched
became holy ground...

and I found a feeling
of serenity and brotherhood.

This lamb is exquisite.

It's the best
dish on the table.

You're all missing out.

You only need to convert
to three more religions,
Piscine...

and you will spend
your life on holiday.
(RAVI LAUGHING)

Are you going to
Mecca this year,
Swami Jesus?

Or to Rome
for your coronation
as Pope Pi-us?

GITA: You stay
out of this, Ravi.

Just as you like cricket,
Pi has his own interests.

No, Gita,
Ravi has a point.

You cannot follow
three different religions
at the same time, Piscine.

Why not?

Because believing
in everything
at the same time...

Is the same as not believing
in anything at all.

He's young, Santosh.
He's still finding his way.

And how can he find his way
if he does not choose a path?

Listen, instead of leaping
from one religion
to the next...

why not start with reason?

In a few hundred years...

science has taken us
farther in understanding
the universe...

than religion has
in 10,000.

Thatis true.

Your father is right.

Science can teach us
more about what
is out there...

but not what is in here.

Some eat meat,
some eat vegetable.

I do not expect us all
to agree about everything...

but I would much
rather have you

believe in something
I don't agree with...

than to accept
everything blindly.

And that begins
with thinking rationally.

Do you understand?

Good.

I would like
to be baptized.

(SNIGGERS)

S0, you're
a Christian
and a Muslim?

And a Hindu,
of course.

And a Jew, I suppose.

Well, I do teach a course
on the Kabbalah
at the university.

And why not?
Faith is a house
with many rooms.

But no room
for doubt?

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's been tested.

Where's Selvam?
We shouldn't be in
here without him.

Stop worrying.

I have seen him
do this a thousand times.

I want to meet
our new tiger.

Pi!

Hello? Richard Parker?

A tiger?
Richard Parker
was a tiger?

Yeah, he got his name
through a clerical error.

A hunter caught him
drinking from a stream
when he was a cub...

and named him Thirsty.

When Thirsty got too big,
the hunter sold him
to our zoo...

but the names got switched
on the paperwork.
(BOTH LAUGH)

The hunter was listed
as Thirsty,

and the tiger
was called Richard Parker.

We laughed about it,
and the name stuck.

Let's go...

before we
get into trouble.

I want to see him
close up.

You're not
a zookeeper.

Come on!

(RICHARD PARKER GROWLS)

That's it,
Richard Parker.

It's for you.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

SANTOSH: No!

What are you thinking?

Are you
out of your mind?

Who gave you permission
to come back here?

You have
just ignored everything
I've ever taught you.

I just wanted to
say hello to him.

You think that tiger
is your friend?

He's an animal,
not a playmate.

Animals have souls.

I have seen it
in their eyes.

(PANTING)

Find Selvam.

(SPEAKING IN TAMIL)

You're sure, Sir?
Pi's just a boy.

Do 1t. Go ahead!

Animals do not think
like we do.

People who forget that
get themselves killed.

That tiger
is not your friend.

When you look into
his eyes...

you are seeing
your own emotions
reflected back at you.

Nothing else.

(WHISPERS) Don't be stupid.
Say you're sorry.

What have you done,
Piscine?

You know what
your father said about
coming back here.

I am sorry. I was...

What are you thinking?

This is between
a father and his sons.

(SPEAKING TAMIL)

He said he's sorry.

You want to
scar them for life?

Scar them?
That boy almost lost his arm.

But he's still a boy.

He will be a man
sooner than you think.

And this is a lesson
I do not want them
ever to forget.

Selvam!

(GATE OPENING)

(EXHALES)

(GOAT BLEATING)

(BLEATING CONTINUES)

(GASPS)

(CRUNCHING)

MALE ANNOUNCER: ...and so
has placed the country
in a state of emergency.

Under the directive,
the states of
Gujarat and Tamil Nadu...

will be placed under
the direct authority
of the central government.

Police will be
granted powers...
(ALARM RINGING)

to arrest and indefinitely
detain citizens

responsible for the uprising.

Pl. Things changed
after the day
of Appa's lesson.

The world had lost
some of its enchantment.

School was a bore.
Nothing but facts,
fractions and French.

Words and patterns
that went on and on,
without end.

Just like
my irrational nickname.

I grew restless
searching for something

that might bring meaning
back into my life.

And then, I met Anandi.

(BHARATANATYAM MUSIC PLAYING)

Mother made me study music.

And one day,
my teacher
came down with the flu.

He asked if
I could take his place,

playing rhythms
for a dance class.

(VOCALIZING)

DANCE MASTER: No.
(MUSIC STOPS)

If you
do not concentrate...

you cannot express
your love of God
through dance.

Feel the ground
beneath your feet.

Open your gaze out
onto the horizon.

Let that spiritual energy
pulse through you
and out into the world.

Through abhinaya.

Anandi, come to the front.
Lead them.

(STICK CLACKING)

(STUDENTS GIGGLE)

(FAINT HINDI MUSIC PLAYING)

Why are you following me?

What?

You were following me.

What does this mean?

In the dance,
you went from pataka...

which means the forest.

And then you did...

samputa...

which means
something that is hidden.

And after that,
you did this.

And then you did chatura.

But at the very end,
you did this.

None of the other
dancers did that.

What did you mean?
The god of love
is hiding in the forest?

No, that also means
the lotus flower.

Lotus flower
is hiding in the forest?

Why would a lotus flower
hide in the forest?

And this
is Richard Parker.

He is the most
magnificent creature

we've ever had here.

Look at the way
he's turning his head.

Showing off. Like a dancer.

No, he heard something.

He's listening, you see?

We have talked
about it for some time.

Do you understand
what I'm saying?

Pi?

Sorry, you've been...

Worried.

For my family.

Our animals are worth
far more abroad
than here in India.

And if the town council
stops supporting us...

I don't know
where we will be.

So, it is what
we have to do.

Do you understand?

I'm sorry,
what are we talking about?

We are leaving India.

What?

We are selling the zoo.

The zoo
was never ours to sell.
The land belongs to the town.

But the animals
are ours
and if we sell them...

we will have enough
to start a new life.

But where would we go?
Our life is here, Appa.

Canada.

I have some opportunities
for work in Winnipeg.

I'll be shipping
most of the animals
for sale in North America.

We can get freighter passage
for the whole family.

So...

It is settled.

We will sail like Columbus.

But Columbus
was looking for India.

Pl: It takes
a lot of work to sell a zoo.

Before we left...

Anandi and I had time enough
to break each other’'s hearts.

Of course, I promised
I would come back one day.

It's funny.

I remember everything else
about our last day.

But I don't remember
saying goodbye.

GITA: Pi?
They're serving
dinner below.

Piscine...

you have a whole life
ahead of you.

We are doing this
for you and Rauvi.

Come inside
and have some dinner.

Vegetarian, please.

Oh, my sons
and I are vegetarians.
Do you have anything...

NoO, no, no.
Not more gravy.

You don't want gravy?
No.

(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

NO, I want something
vegetarian.

Oh.

Pas de probleme.

ohe asked If you have
something vegetarian.

‘I'ne cow that produced
this liver was vegetarian,

the pigs that went into
these sausages were vegetarian.

Very funny.

But my wife doesn't eat liver.

Pas de probleme.

1'hen she can eat the sausage,
the rice, and the gravy.

Or you can cook your own food.

How qare you talk
to my wife like that?

Here's your rice.

I cook for sailors. ..

not curry-eaters.

vvhat did you say?

I et go of me!

VWho do you think you are’?
You're nothing but a servant!

I feed people!
You feed monkeys!

Hello.

I am happy Buddhist.

So, I eat rice

next to gravy.

On ship,
gravy is not meat.

Is taste.

You try?

(MONKEY CHATTERING)

Don't worry.

We will have
plenty of fresh supplies
after we stop in Manila.

Why give Orange Juice
tranquilizers?

She's not going to
cause any trouble.

The stress of traveling
is not good for the animals...

and it helps
with the seasickness.

We don't want
to be cleaning up
after a seasick orangutan...

do we?

Pl. My father
was a businessman.

He had never tended
the animals himself.

I realized...

leaving India must
have been harder for him
than it was for me.

So...

Have I forgotten
anything?

I think you've set
the stage.

So far, we have an Indian boy
named after
a French swimming pool...

on a Japanese
ship full of animals,
heading to Canada.

Yes.

Now, we have to send our boy
into the middle of
the Pacific and--

And make me
believe in God.

Yeah.

We'll get there.

(CHUCKLES)

It was four days
out of Manila...

above the Mariana Trench,
the deepest spot on Earth.

Our ship,
The Tsimtsum, pushed on,

bullishly indifferent
to its surroundings.

It moved with the slow,
massive confidence
of a continent.

(WIND HOWLING)

(RUMBLING)

(WHISPERING) Ravi?

Did you hear that, Ravi?

I'm sleeping.

It's a thunderstorm.
Let's go watch.

Are you crazy?

We will get hit
by lightning.

No, we won't.
It will hit
the bridge first.

Don't tempt a storm, Pi.

(TUTS)

(TICKING)

Whoa.

(WIND HOWLING)

Oh!

(LAUGHING)

(GASPING)

(YELLS)

(GRUNTS

(GIGGLES)

(LAUGHING)

More rain! More rain!

Lord of Storms!

Whoa!

Lightning!

(GRUNTS

Ah!

(MAN SHOUTING IN DISTANCE)

(MAN YELLS)

Amma!
(ALARM BUZZING)

Appa!

Ravi! Get out! Get out!

(INHALES)

(GRUNTING)

(COUGHING)

Help me!

(SAILOR YELLING)

Help!

Get in the boat!

Please! Save my family!

Don't scare, okay?
Wait, stay here!

You have to help them!
Please!

Put this on.

No, no, my family!
Please!

(YELLING)

We have to help them!

We don't have time.
My family's back there!

We help!
You must go!

Who let
all the animals out?

You have to go now!

No, wait, my father!
He can't swim!

Go!

SAILOR: Hang on to the boat!
Hold, hold!

Bring it down!

(MEN SCREAMING INDISTINCTLY)

Hey! You!
What are you doing?

Jump!

Hey, hey!

(COOK YELLS)
(Pl GASPS)

(SCREAMS)

(GRUNTS

(YELLS)

(MEN YELLING INDISTINCTLY)

(BLOWS WHISTLE)

Hey! Over here!
Over here!

(GRUNTS

(GROANS)

Richard Parker?

No! No!

No! Go away! Go away!

(GASPS)

(GASPS)

(PI GROANS)
(ZEBRA WHIMPERING)

Agh!

(COUGHING)

Amma!

Appa! Ravi.

(SOBBING) I'm sorry.

I'm sorry!

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

(GRUNTS

(GRUNTING)

(RUSTLING)

Hari?

(GRUNTS

(GRUNTS

Looks as though
your drugs
haven't worn off yet.

(SCREECHING)

Orange Juice!
Orange Juice!

Welcome to Pi's Ark.

(GRUNTS

Where is your boy,
Orange Juice?

Don't worry,
I bet mother and father
found him.

They'll all be here soon.

(FLIES BUZZING)

Hello!

Hello!

Anybody!

(HYENA LAUGHING)

(GROWLING)

(SCREECHING)

(WHIMPERING)

(RETCHING)

(HYENA CACKLING)

(ZEBRA WHINES)

No!

Stop it! No!
Stop it! Stop it!

(ZEBRA BRAYING)

No! No!

(GASPS)

(COUGHING)

(COUGHS)

I'm sorry, Orange Juice.

I don't have
any seasickness medicine
for you.

Supplies.
Oh, supplies!

(GRUNTS

(GASPS)

(SCREECHING)

(HYENA LAUGHING)

Yes! Yes!

(SNARLING)

No! No!

No! No!

(GRUNTS

(WHIMPERING)

(GROWLS)

Come on! Come on!

Come on!

(ROARS)

(BONES CRUNCHING)

(GRUNTS

(ROARING)

(SNARLING)

(GRUNTS

Mmm.

(SQUEAKING)

(ROARS)
(EXCLAIMS)

(Pl GASPING)

(SNARLING)

(SQUEAKING)

(GROANING)

(ROARS)
(YELLS)

(ROARING)
(SCREAMING)

(GRUNTING)

(PANTING)

(RETCHING)

(THUMPING)

(SOBBING)

My name is Pi Patel.

I have been in a shipwreck.

I am on a lifeboat alone...

with a tiger.

Please send help.

(ROARS)

God, I give myself to you.

I am your vessel.

Whatever comes,
I want to know.

Show me.

There are no lines.

(READS) Set your house
in order and dig in
for the battle to survive.

Establish a strict
schedule for eating,

keeping watch
and getting rest.

Do not drink
urine or sea water.

Keep busy
but avoid
unnecessary exertion.

The mind can be kept occupied
by playing card games...

Twenty Questions, or I Spy.

Community singing
is another surefire way
to lift the spirits.

(RICHARD PARKER MOANING)

Telling stories
is highly recommended.

Above all, don't lose hope.

(RICHARD PARKER MOANING)

Few things can sap
the spirit
faster than seasickness.

Waves are most strongly felt
when a boat turns
sideways to the current.

A sea anchor is used
as a drag to keep the boat's
head to the wind.

Proper use of them
can increase control

and reduce seasickness
during rough seas.

For castaways
who must share
their lifeboats with large,

dangerous carnivores...

it's advisable to establish
a territory as your own.

Try this method.

Step one.

Choose a day
when waves are moderate,
but regular.

Step two.
With the lifeboat
facing into the waves...

making the ride
as comfortable as possible,
blow your whistle soothingly.

Step three.
Turn the lifeboat
sideways to the waves...

accompanied by harsh,
aggressive use
of the whistle.

With sufficient repetition...

the animal will associate
the sound of the whistle. ..

with the discomfort
of seasickness.

Similar methods have
long been used by
circus trainers...

though they generally lack
access to rough seas.

Let the trumpets blare!

Let the drum rolls begin!

Prepare to be amazed!

Here it is,
for your enjoyment
and instruction!

The show you've
been waiting for
all your life...

will soon begin!

(RICHARD PARKER MOANING)

Are you ready for
the miracle of it?

Well, then, I give to you...

the astounding Bengal tiger!

(MOANING)

Hello, Richard Parker.
Sorry about the choppy ride.

(SCREAMS)

(URINATING)

Mine!
You understand?
Yours, mine!

(BLOWS WHISTLE)

You understand?

Ew! (SPITTING)

Step four.

Disregard steps
one through three.

(BLOWS WHISTLE)

Here, Richard Parker.
I got some water for you.

(BLOWS WHISTLE)

In the zoo, we fed our tigers
an average of five kilos
of meat a day.

Richard Parker
will be getting hungry soon.

Tigers are powerful swimmers,
and if he gets
hungry enough...

I'm afraid
the little bit of water
between us

won't be any protection.

I need to find a way
to feed him.

I can eat the biscuits
but God made
tigers carnivores...

so i must learn to
catch fish.

If I don't,
I'm afraid his last meal

will be a skinny,
vegetarian boy.

(FRUSTRATED GROAN)

(GROWLING IMPATIENTLY)

Patience!

(GROWLING)

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

(PANTING)

(SCREAMING)

What am I doing?

(THUDDING)

Wait! I'm thinking.

(GRUNTS

(BLOWING WHISTLE)

Thirty-two cartons
of biscuits.

Ninety-three cans of water.

(GRUNTS

(GRUNTING)

I'm sorry.

(SOBBING) I'm sorry.

Thank you, Lord Vishnu.

Thank you for coming
in the form of a fish
and saving our lives.

Thank you.

(BLOWS WHISTLE)

(CRUNCHING)

(LAUGHING)

(GASPS)

Of course,
[ brought all
the biscuits and water

on the raft with me
to keep them safe.

Idiot.

Hunger can
change everything you

ever thought you
knew about yourself.

(ROARS)

(GROANS)

(SPLASHING)

(GROWLING)

Here, it's yours!

(ROARS)

Oh! Ah!

(GROANING)

(SCREAMING)

(SCREAMS)

(ROARS)

(GRUNTS

Mine! Mine!

(SCREAMING)

(GRUNTS

(PANTING)

[ can't risk my life
every time

[ have to climb
onto the boat for supplies.

It's time to settle this.

If we're going
to live together,

we have to learn
to communicate.

Maybe Richard Parker
can't be tamed,

but with God's will,
he can be trained.

(GROWLS)

(ROARS)

No!

(EXCLAIMS)

Good.

(SNIFFING)

Go, Richard Parker. Go.

Go on home,
I'll leave you alone.

I'll respect that,
I promise.

Go. Come on.

(SCREAMS)

Yes!

I never thought
a small piece of shade

could bring me
SO0 much happiness.

That a pile of tools,
a bucket, a knife, a pencil...

might become my
greatest treasures.

Or that knowing
Richard Parker was here
might ever bring me peace.

In times like these...

[ remember that he has
as little experience

with the real world as I do.

We were both raised in a zoo
by the same master.

Now we've been orphaned,
left to face our
ultimate master together.

Without Richard Parker,
I would have died by now.

My fear of him keeps me alert.

Tending to his needs
gives my life purpose.

Dolphins.

Hey, Richard Parker!

Hey!

(GUN CLICKING)

Above all,
don't lose hope.

Eight, five, five,
zero, three, six, six...

zero, eight, zero, one...

three, six, zero, four,
six, six, eight...

What are you looking at?

Talk to me.

Tell me what you see.

Words are all I have
left to hang on to.

Everything mixed up.
Fragmented.

Can't tell daydreams,
night dreams,
from reality anymo--...

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Storm, Richard Parker.

(WIND HOWLING)

No!

(GASPS)

No!

Praise be to God!

Lord of all worlds!

The compassionate,
the merciful!

Ah!

Come out.

Richard Parker!
Come out,
you have to see this!

It's beautiful!

(GRUNTING)

Don't hide yourself!
He's come to us!

It's a miracle!

Come out and see God,
Richard Parker!

Why are you scaring him?

Oh, God!

I've lost my family!
I've lost everything!

I surrender!
What more do you want?

(GASPING)

I'm sorry, Richard Parker.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

We're dying,
Richard Parker.

I'm sorry.

Amma, Appa, Ravi...

I'm happy I'm going
to see you soon.

Can you feel the rain?

(SOBBING)

God, thank you for
giving me my life.

I'm ready now.

Richard Parker?

(GROANS)

Mmm.

(DISTANT ANIMAL NOISES)

(LOUD CHATTERING)

(SNIFFING)

Excuse me.

Move.

Move. Excuse me.

(MEERKATS CHATTERING)

(CHATTERING)

Hey! Hey!

Hey, come on!

Hey.

Hey, get away.
This is my bed.

WRITER:
It was a human tooth?

Don't you see?
The island was
carnivorous.

Carnivorous?
Like a Venus Flytrap?

Yes, the whole island.

The plants,
the water in those pools,
the very ground itself.

During the day,
those pools held
fresh water.

But at night,
some chemical process

turned the water
in those pools into acid...

acid that dissolved
those fish...

that sent the meerkats
scurrying into the trees,

and Richard Parker
running to the boat.

But where did
the tooth come from?

Years ago, some poor fellow,
just like me...

must have found himself
stranded on that island...

and, like me,
thought he might
stay there forever.

But all that
the island gave him by day,
it took away again by night.

To think, how many hours
spent with only meerkats
for company.

How much loneliness
taken on.

All I know is that
eventually he died

and the island
digested him...

leaving behind
only his teeth.

I saw how my life would end
if I stayed on that island.

Alone and forgotten.

I had to get
back to the world,
or die trying.

I spent the next day
preparing the boat.

[ filled my stores
with fresh water...

ate seaweed
until my stomach
could take no more...

and brought
as many meerkats
as I could fit

into the storage locker
for Richard Parker.

I couldn’t leave
without him, of course.

It would mean
killing him.

(BLOWS WHISTLE)

And so,
I waited for his return.

(BLOWING WHISTLE)

I knew
he wouldn't be late.

Richard Parker!

No one has seen that
floating island since.

And you won't read
about those trees
in any nature book.

And yet, if I hadn't
found those shores,
I would have died.

If I hadn't
discovered that tooth,

I would have been lost,
alone forever.

Even when God seemed
to have abandoned me...

He was watching.

Even when He seemed
indifferent to my
suffering...

He was watching.

And when I was
beyond all hope of saving,
He gave me rest...

then gave me a sign
to continue my journey.

By the time we reached
the Mexican shore,

I was afraid to
let go of the boat.

My strength was gone.
I was so weak.

I was afraid that
in two feet of water,
so close to deliverance...

I would drown.

I struggled to shore
and fell upon the sand.

It was warm and soft...

like pressing my face
against the cheek of God.

And somewhere,
two eyes were smiling
at having me there.

[ was so spent,
I could hardly move.

And so, Richard Parker
went ahead of me.

He stretched his legs
and walked along the shore.

At the edge of the jungle,
he stopped.

I was certain
he was going to
look back at me. ..

flatten his ears
to his head, growl.

That he would
bring our relationship
to an end in some way.

But he just stared ahead
into the jungle.

And then, Richard Parker,
my fierce companion...

the terrible one
who kept me alive...

disappeared
forever from my life.

After a few hours,
a member of my own
species found me.

He left and
returned with a group
who carried me away.

(SOBBING)

I wept like a child.

Not because I was overwhelmed
at having survived,
although I was.

I was weeping
because Richard Parker
left me so unceremoniously.

It broke my heart.

You know,
my father was right.

Richard Parker never
saw me as his friend.

After all
we had been through,
he didn't even look back.

But I have to believe
there was more in his
eyes...

than my own reflection
staring back at me.

I Know it.
I felt it.

Even if I can't prove it.

You know,
I've left so much behind.

My family, the zoo,
India, Anandi.

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.

I was never able
to thank my father
for all I learned from him.

To tell him,
without his lessons...

I would never
have survived.

I know Richard Parker
is a tiger,
but I wish I had said...

"It's over.
We survived.

"Thank you
for saving my life.
I love you, Richard Parker.

"You will always
be with me.

"May God be with you."

I don't know
what to say.

It's hard to believe,
isn't it?

It 1s a lot to take In.

To figure out
what it all means.

If it happened,
it happened.

Why should it have
to mean anything?

Some of it is
pretty incredible.

See, I was the only one
who survived the shipwreck.

So the Japanese
shipping company sent
two men to talk to me...

In the Mexican hospital
where I was recovering.

I still have a copy
of their report.

They had insurance claims
to settle...

and they wanted to find out
why the ship sank.

They didn't
believe me, either.

Thousands of meerkats
on a floating
carnivorous island...

and no one
has ever seen it?

Yes, just like I told you.

Bananas don't float.
(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

VWhy are you
talking about bananas?

You said the orangutan
floated to you
on a bundle of bananas.

But bananas don't float.

Are you sure about that’/

Of course they do.
Try it for yourself.

In any case, we are not here
to talk about bananas
or meerkats.

Look, I've just
told you a long story
and I'm very tired.

We are here because
a Japanese cargo ship
sank in the Pacific.

Something I never forget.

I lost my whole family.

(Get him some water.

We don't mean
to push you.

And you have our
deepest sympathies.

But we have come
a long way...

and we are no closer
to understanding
why the ship sank.

Because I don't know.

I was asleep.
Something woke me up.

It could have
been an explosion,
I can't be sure.

And then the ship sank.

What else do you
want from me?

A story that won't make us
look like fools.

We need a simpler story
for our report.

One our company
can understand.

A story
we can all believe.

S0, a story without things
you've never seen before.

That's right.

Without surprises.
Without animals
or islands.

Yes. The truth.

S0, what did you do?

I told them
another story.

Four of us survived.

The cook and the sailor
were already aboard.

The cook threw me a lifebuoy
and pulled me aboard...

and Mother held on to
some bananas and made it
to the lifeboat.

The cook was
a disgusting man.

He ate a rat.

We had food enough for weeks,
but he found the rat
in the first few days...

and he killed i,
dried it in the sun
and ate it.

He was such a brute,
that man.

But he was resourceful.

It was his idea to build
the raft to catch fish.

We would have died in
those first few days
without him.

The sailor was the same man
who brought rice and gravy,
the Buddhist.

We didn't understand
much of what he said,
only that he was suffering.

He had broken his leg
horribly in the fall.

We tried to set it
as best we could, but
the leg became infected...

and the cook said that
we had to do something
or he'd die.

The cook said
he'd do it,

but Mother and I had
to hold the man down.

And I believed him,
we needed to do it.

So...

I kept saying,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

And he just
kept looking at me.
His eyes were so...

I'll never
understand the point
of that man's suffering.

I can still hear him.

The happy Buddhist,
he only ate rice and gravy.

We didn't save him,
of course.

He died.

The morning after,
the cook caught
his first dorado...

and I didn't understand
what he had done at first,
but Mother did...

and I had never seen
Mother so angry.

"Stop whining and
be happy," he said.

"We need more
food or we'll die.
That was the whole point."

"What was the whole point?”
Mother asked.

"You let that poor boy
die in order to get bait,
you monster!"

The cook got furious.

He started towards her
with his fist raised...

and Mother slapped him hard,
right across the face.

I was stunned.

I thought he was going
to kill her right then.

But he didn't.

The cook didn't stop
at bait either, no.

The sailor...

He went the same
way the rat went.

The cook was
a resourceful man.

It was a week later
that he...

Because of me.

Because I couldn't
hold on to a stupid turtle.

It slipped out of my hands
and swam away.

And the cook came up
and he punched me on
the side of my head...

and my teeth clacked
and I saw stars.

I thought he was
going to hit me again...

but Mother started
pounding on him
with her fists...

screaming,
"Monster, monster!"

She yelled at me
to go to the raft.

(SPEAKING TAMIL)

I thought she
was coming with me,
or I'd never have...

I don't know why
I didn't make her
go first.

I think about that
every day.

I jJumped over
and turned back just
as the knife came out.

There wasn't anything
I could do.

I couldn't look away.

He threw her body overboard.

And then the sharks came.
And I saw what they...

I saw.

The next day,
I killed him.

He didn't even fight back.
He knew he had gone
too far...

even by his
own standards.

He'd left the knife
out on the bench,

and I did to him what
he did to the sailor.

He was such an evil man,
but worse still, he...

He brought
the evil out in me.

And I have to
live with that.

I was alone
in a lifeboat...

drifting across
the Pacific Ocean.

And I survived.

Pl: After that,
they had no more
questions.

The investigators
didn't seem to like
the story, exactly.

But they thanked me,
they wished me well,
and they left.

So the stories...

both the zebra
and the sailor...

broke their leg.

And the hyena
killed the zebra
and the orangutan.

S0... the hyena is the cook.

The sailor
is the zebra.

Your mother
is the orangutan.

And you are...

the tiger.

Can I ask you something?

Of course.

I've told you two stories
about what happened
out on the ocean.

Neither explains what caused
the sinking of the ship...

and no one can prove
which story is true
and which is not.

In both stories,
the ship sinks...

my family dies
and I suffer.

True.

S0, which story
do you prefer?

The one with the tiger.

That's the better story.

Thank you.

And so it goes with God.

Mamaji was right.

It's an amazing story.

Will you really
let me write it?

Of course.

Isn't that why Mamaji
sent you here, after all?

(CAR APPROACHING)

My wife is here.

Do you want to
stay for dinner?
She's an incredible cook.

I didn't know
you had a wife.

And a cat
and two children.

S0, your story does
have a happy ending.

Well, that's up to you.

The story is yours now.

(CHUCKLES)

(DOOR OPENING)

Hmm.

"Mr. Patel's is
an astounding story
of courage and endurance...

"unparalleled
in the history
of shipwrecks.

"Very few castaways can
claim to have survived
so long at sea...

"and none in the company...

"of an adult Bengal tiger."”

BOY: Hi, Dad.

Pl: We have a guest.
Let me introduce you.

Hi.
Hi.

Nice to meet you.

Adita.

Ravi.