Precious One

Pi's Lullaby is the intro song of the 2012 film Life of Pi by director Ang Lee. It was composed by Mychael Danna and sung by Bombay Jayashri. The lyrics, in Tamil, were written by Bombay Jayashri. The song earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. The nomination marks the first ever Tamil song to be nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar.

Working on the song, Director Ang Lee explained to Jayashri the mood and feeling the song should evoke. Jayashri notes in her blog that he told her: “A child sleeps not because he is sleepy, but because he feels safe". We want to be that child feeling safe and warm and protected  :-))))))

Lyrics English Translation

My darling, the apple of my eye,
Go to sleep, my dear precious one.
Are you a peacock? A peacock displaying its beautiful plumage?
Are you a Cuckoo Bird? Are you the chirping Cuckoo Bird?
Are you the moon? Are you the moon's light?
Are you the eyelid? Are you the dreams within the eyelids?
Sleep humming..
Sleep humming..
Are you a flower? Are you the sweet nectar of the flower?
Are you a fruit? Are you the sweet taste of the ripened fruit?
Sleep humming..



Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of South India and North-east Sri Lanka. It has official status in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Tamil is also a national language of Sri Lanka and an official language of Singapore and Mauritius. It is also chiefly spoken in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands as one of the secondary languages. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and was declared a classical language by the government of India in 2004. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Canada, South Africa, Fiji, Germany, USA, Netherlands, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world.

Tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world. It has been described as "the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably continuous with a classical past" and having "one of the richest literatures in the world". Tamil literature has existed for over 2000 years. The earliest epigraphic records found on rock edicts and hero stones date from around the 3rd century BCE. The earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from ca. 300 BCE – 300 CE. Tamil language inscriptions written c. 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE have been discovered in Egypt, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The two earliest manuscripts from India, to be acknowledged and registered by UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005 were in Tamil. More than 55% of the epigraphical inscriptions (about 55,000) found by the Archaeological Survey of India are in the Tamil language. According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies. It has the oldest extant literature amongst other Dravidian languages. The variety and quality of classical Tamil literature has led to its being described as "one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world".