Indian actor Suraj Sharma, who starred in Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s (李安) 3D adventure epic Life of Pi, began a nine-day trip to Taiwan yesterday for sightseeing and to visit friends he made during the shooting of the movie, most of which was done in Taiwan.
Describing himself as “super-excited,” Sharma said he has been yearning to revisit Taiwan since his previous trips to the country to promote the movie because his busy schedule during those trips kept him from having fun.
Accompanied by his younger brother, the 20-year-old will visit Taipei and Greater Taichung, where Life of Pi was shot.
Besides reunions with friends, Sharma said he would try to visit places he has been to and try more Taiwanese cuisine.
Having just finished his second movie, Million Dollar Arm, a film based on a true story in which he plays baseball pitcher Rinku Singh, Sharma said that after he wraps up his visit to Taiwan, he will depart for New York University to study film and psychology.
He will be following in the footsteps of Lee, who is also a graduate of the university’s film production program. Sharma said it was Lee who inspired him to study movies.
A modest Sharma said he does not expect himself to reach the same career heights as Lee, but simply wants to understand and enjoy the experience of film production.
Life of Pi, which was adapted from Canadian novelist Yann Martel’s 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, won four Oscars this year, including best director.
Sharma plays the lead character Pi Patel who is stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck.
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