Life of Pi: On location in Pondicherry, India – in pictures

The French Quarter: The backdrop to many of the sequences in Life of Pi, the French Quarter was a base of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales (French East India Company) from 1675. Pondicherry then frequently changed hands between France and Britain between 1761-1815, after which it remained in French possession until 1954. On quiet, wide streets like rue de la Caserne, rue Suffren and rue Dumas – the latter with its Notre Dame des Agnes church – are French villas and trailing bougainvillea. Outside the Travaux Publics government building, a notable backdrop to one of Pi’s childhood memories, a sign reads ‘Beauty is our city. Preserving it is our duty’ in both English and French. Across the street is Aayi Mandapam, an imposing Arc d’Triomphe-style, Napolean III-era memorial.  Photograph: Alamy

Some grand French Quarter houses have been converted into boutique hotels and restaurants. Once home to the French Mayor, the immaculately restored Le Dupleix (5, rue de la Casserne, mains around £4, rooms from £85, ledupleix.in) serves Indian and French fare, while the air-conditioned upstairs bar at the Hotel du Parc (5, Jawaharlal Nehru Street, mains around £6, rooms from £35, hotelduparc.co.in) or the leafy courtyard of Le Club (38, Dumas Street, mains around £2 , leclubraj.com) are unpretentious places to sink a Kingfisher beer. At Hotel de L’Orient (17 rue Romain Rolland, mains from £6, rooms from £39, hotel-de-lorient.neemranahotels.com), pictured, the menu combines Indian and French flavours but the wine is from Pune in Maharashtra. Photograph: PR

Grand Bazaar and Tamil Quarter: Reach rue Jawaharlal Nehru and you swap colonial ambiance for bustling, busy India, and the frenetic walled Grand Bazaar. The setting for Pi’s flirtations with his girlfriend Anandi (pictured centre), this football pitch-sized market crams in dozens of types of bananas, sacks of beans, okra and ginger, and flowers.
© Twentieth Century Fox

The smell of jasmine garlands and curry leaves fills the air, though both struggle to compete with the fish market next door. It’s staffed entirely by women, who lay out the day’s catch on concrete pitches. Pi is played in the film by Suraj Sharma, pictured here.
© Twentieth Century Fox

Fresh seafood can be sampled at the restored Tamil merchant’s mansion Maison Perumal (44 Perumal Koil St, mains from £5, doubles from £85, cghearth.com/maison-perumal), whose courtyard restaurant serves appams, lemon rice and Fish Moilee. The latter combines kingfish with mouth-watering cocums, a delicious smoky dried fruit sourced from Kerala. Its air-conditioned, secluded cocktail lounge is a haven from the humidity of the streets. Photograph: Niels van Gijn/Email: info@johnwarburtonlee.com

Le Jardin Botanique de Pondicherry: The zoo where Pi’s father works demanded a film set, of course, so director Ang Lee settled on the town’s Botanical Gardens. Cue a 10-day sowing spree in September 2010 for filming the following February.
© Twentieth Century Fox

Created by the French in 1826 and covering about 20 acres, the Botanical Gardens are about a mile from the French Quarter, and fronted by the yellow walls typical of Pondy’s remaining French buildings.
© Twentieth Century Fox

It’s a popular place for courting young Pondicheriens, but it doesn’t offer much of an escape for anyone suffering from humidity. For those feeling the heat, the town’s only swimming pool can be found at the Ananda Inn (154, S.V. Patel Road, doubles from £50, anandhainn.com), famed for its great-value vegetarian buffet (12pm-3pm, £4) Photograph: Alamy

Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Referenced in the novel as a place where Mamaji – Pi’s uncle – swam 30 lengths every morning, and appearing fleetingly in the film as a backdrop, there is no more important place in modern Pondicherry than the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (17, rue de la Marine, sriaurobindoashram.org, 8am-12pm, 2pm-6pm). Visitors must remove their shoes before entering and circling the courtyard in silence. Many stay for weeks or months in guesthouses around the town reserved for ashram visitors, the biggest being Park Guest House (1, Goubert Avenue, rooms from £5, parkgh@sriaurobindoashram.org). They can access private areas of the ashram for yoga and meditation using special passes. Photograph: Frederic Soltan/Corbis

The ashram’s offshoot community Auroville makes a great day-trip. Six miles north of Pondicherry and easily reached by taxi, this cashless ‘universal city’ of 2,250 mostly Western idealists hosts the Matrimandir, a giant golden lotus flower, outrageously creative architecture, and the Bakery (Auroville Main Road) serving delicious croissants. Auroville’s fine cheeses and other vegetarian produce can be sampled at the visitor’s centre (9am-5.30pm, auroville.org). Photograph: Alamy

Near the Sri Aurobindo Ashram is Manakula Vinayagar (Manakula Vinayagar Koil Street, manakulavinayagartemple.com), a Hindu temple where Lakshmi the elephant takes coins (and notes) in her trunk before ‘blessing’ worshippers’ heads. Outside the temple a priest blesses the owners of new motorbikes; afterwards the seated rider pushes his wheel over a half a lime to imitate – and so prevent – a road accident. Photograph: Aji Jayachandran/Demotix/Corbis

Goubert Avenue, promenade and pier: At sunset the rocky beach-fronted promenade along Goubert Avenue is lit up and full up of Pondicheriens out for a stroll. At the promenade’s centre stands a statue of Gandhi among pillars, originally from a Hindu temple at Gingee, one bearing the inscription Place de la Republique. Photograph: Alamy

The pillars celebrated a train track from an adjoining pier where French boats docked; the pier was destroyed by a cyclone in 1953 – just a year before Pondicherry was transferred to India. The remains are just visible, though it’s the newer construction just south that features in Life of Pi
© Twentieth Century Fox

Just beyond Gandhi is Le Cafe (Goubert Avenue, mains from £1.50), a good spot for an iced coffee (though there are no toilets for women), while across the street is Pondicherry Museum (rue Romian Rolland, 10am-5pm, free). It’s a run-down place of sun-bleached and badly broken artefacts, though there is an intriguing display on Arikamedu, a fishing village just south of Pondicherry that traded with Rome. Close to the new pier in a small, litter-strewn children’s park is a statue of Francois Dupleix, an early governor of Pondicherry. He looks across to the Alliance Française de Pondicherry (58, rue Suffren, alliancefrancaisepondichery.com), one of the last bastions of French art, music and culture in a town where a shared history has created a true one-off for travellers.
Photograph: Wilmar Photography/Alamy