Some of the people following me on Social Media question my frequent updates about books and movies. Some with genuine interest and some with the intent of asking if I have didn’t have anything better to do. To the latter i can only say Mind your own Business and dnt read furrther down and to the former , plz read u may find some some answers .

As far as I can remember ever since a child I was fascinated with movies, reading came much later to me. Our times not too many movies came on TV and even if they came we weren’t allowed to watch them and Cinema Halls were a no go area. The first vivid memory of watching a movie in a theatre was in Ajmer during a visit to Bhua’s place during summer holidays: DARD KA RISHTA it was!! The movie based on the theme of Cancer, the fatal disease which by then I had seen up close and personal in the family. There was no looking back and I started savoring movies with each passing year. The choice has since wavered between the regular masala blockbusters to avant garde!!

Watching a good movie is therapeutic for me; it transports to a world beyond and also sometimes makes us face our inner demons. The dark stark reality to realms of a make believe happy world. From the glamour and glitz to the reality and hardships of everyday world, I savor them all with equal fervor. It gives me window a peak at the life I would like to lead, one that I never want to be part of. To see the places far and beyond and to have a look at things differently.

Having no preference for any language and genre I can watch them all be it Hindi / English, Bengali/ Spanish/ Italian, Persian (provided with sub titles) and then are some colorful ones too, only films that I seldom like are those sci-fi ones and those vampire love stories. For the latter I once asked a young adult what is that to like in these movies and the answer I was given was that I was beyond the age to fathom Vampire Love stories. Well I accept I m graying and touching 40 but still isn’t the love story of two human beings so much better than that of vampires !!!

The one movie that always moves me and the one that I have seen over and over again is Schindler’s List. The first time I saw way back in 90’s when it had released didn’t really understand its impact , but gradually it grew on me , each time I see it I m shocked , scared , moved with the kind of hatred one community can have for another which more than 70 years since is still so relevant. But beyond the tragedy it offered hope to live and survive and is an ode to indefatigable human spirit …

Now the whole movie going experience has become so bloody expensive. Gone are the cheap days of ticktets/samosa / pepsi for under Rs. 500 with the gang of friends. The dripping roof during the monsoon, the rats and cats for company and the smelly stinky seats have never stifled my passion for movie going not then and not even now ….

“We love films because they makes us feel something. They speak to our desires, which are never small. They allow us to escape and to dream and to gaze into the eyes that are impossibly beautiful and huge. They fill us with longing. But also. they tell us to remember; they remind us of life. Remember, they say, how much it hurts to have your heart broken.” ― Nina LaCour, Everything Leads to You