Life of Lee

Ang Lee :  the Spielberg  of  the  East

The celebrated Taiwanese film-maker Ang Lee bagged this years Oscar for best director for his brilliant 3D-movie Life of Pie. Ang Lee can be aptly called the Steven Spielberg of the East. Like Spielberg, Ang Lee and Oscars seems to be made for each other. Like Spielberg, Ang Lee has proven that he could make movies in any subject or any genre with a fine blend of both artistic and commercial value. Like Spielberg, Ang Lee made movies on versatile topics - such as Sense and Sensibility(English drama), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Wuxia-epic), Brokeback Mountain (western drama), Taking Woodstock (music/drama) and ofcourse Life of Pie(3D/adventure).

When an 'unfilmable story' such as Yan Martel's Life of Pie was announced a few years ago, many critics had their misgivings (including me). Infact I was certain that Life of Pie could only be made in animation. Yet, Ang Lee proved all that wrong. Just as a good cook can make delicious dishes in any cuisine, or a good artist can paint brilliantly in any style, good film-makers such as Ang Lee or Spielberg could make fine movies in any topic or subject.

Ang Lee's success in the international arena also brings into limelight the cinema of Taiwan - a small country, yet a power-house in East Asian entertainment industry. Before Ang Lee, Taiwan was most renowned for the art-house movies of Hou Hsiao-Hsien and also the macho action-star Don Wang Tao ! (Interestingly, Wang Tao also acted in a 3-D movie in 1978 called Tiger Man!) 

Wang Tao  starred  in the 1978 3-D  movie Tiger Man

Anyway the success of Life of Pie, with its largely Indian cast and crew, came as a small consolation for Indian cinema which is celebrating its 100-year anniversary. In all these years, Bollywood - reputed as the largest film industry in the world - could not  produce a film or film-maker of true international quality. (Ofcourse, the great art-house film-makers of India mostly came from Bengal and Kerala).While the current Bollywood is mired in nepotism and plagiarism, it took an Ang Lee or Danny Boyle (in case of Slumdog Millionaire) to unearth the potential of original Indian talent. Certainly the success of Ang Lee and Life of Pie is an occasion to celebrate for Asian cinema. Congratulations again to Ang Lee !