India calling Ang Lee?

Ang Lee's ambitious project Life of Pi is all set to release in India soon. No wonder that the award-winning filmmaker has apparently already purchased his ticket to India along with the rest of the film's team. He's expected to be here in the month of November. The Taiwanese-American's upcoming project has overwhelming Indian connections and is based on Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.

Ang Lee with Suraj Sharma

According to a well-placed source, it is going to be the biggest release of all time for a Hollywood film in the country with 1000+ screens - out of which 300+ screens in 3D - in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Interestingly, the worldwide release is scheduled for December but the film will be releasing a month prior in India along with USA.

"Ang Lee's presence shall make a huge difference. Despite his shy nature, he commands attention as well as respect. Besides, the studio is planning innovative promotions with the whole team before the release of the film. With the film being highly India-centric, the focus will be on grabbing as many eyeballs as possible," concludes the source.

The film has an Indian protagonist named Pi, which is being played by the Delhi-based debutant Suraj Sharma. The 17-year-old actor got the role amongst the 3,000 hopefuls who auditioned for it. The cast also includes Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Adil Hussain.

Another desi touch
Hollywood filmmaker M Night Shyamalan was the first choice to direct this film. Shyamalan was reportedly drawn to the novel and was even interested in its big screen adaptation as the protagonist - like him -hails from Pondicherry (Puducherry) in India. However, things didn't work out between him and the studio and Ang Lee eventually took up this grand project. u00a0