Mumbai, Oct 29 : Oscar winning director Ang Lee, who is here to promote his upcoming 3D venture ‘Life of Pi', says, he had a adventurous time shooting some portions of the film in India and insists there is no gain without pain.
The Taiwanese-born American director, 58, is in India for the first time for a grand promotional tour of the film, based on Yann Martel's novel of the same name.
“It is a thought provoking novel. When you make a movie from a book it is important you should not get the language and words same. It is all about showing cinematic vision to the audience,” Lee told reporters here.
“I have been stressed out for the last four years. I feel without pain there is no gain. It was tremendous pleasure to be here and do the film. It was a profound experience... it was adventurous and fun,” he said.
Known for making films like ‘Sense and Sensibility', ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and ‘Hulk', Lee will tour India alongwith the starcast including Irrfan Khan, Tabu, debutant Suraj Sharma, Adil Hussain and others for promotions.
The international promotions is being flagged off in India in two cities of Mumbai and Chennai.
“I thank everyone... I am happy to be here and bring the movie. I am nervous and anxious. But I do feel privileged and honored to introduce some footage from the film here,” Lee said.
A host of Bollywood celebrities including Sajid Khan, Amol Gupte, Anubhav Sinha, Kunal Deshmukh and Salim Merchant were there to see the exclusive and unseen 20 minutes of the film in 3D.
The film centered around Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) played by debutant Suraj Sharma who is raised in Pondicherry with his family (Tabu plays his mother and Adil is the father) who runs the zoo.
They decide to immigrate to Canada, taking their animals on a huge frieghter ship. A terrible storm destroys the ship.
The family and animals perish, but Pi lives, stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger who miracously surive for 227 days at sea.
Talking about his experience of shooting in India, Lee said, “I have friends in America who told me it will be difficult to shoot in India. I must say I like the culture here. I had a great time. People here are so warm and friendly.”
Lee shot the film in Pondicherry and Munnar with almost 700 crew members.
“I had a great experience. It was only the heat that I could not bear. The visual effects have been given by an American company. I have given my sweat and blood for this film. I hope people like it,” he said.
‘Life of Pi' releases in 3D on November 23 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
