"Don't you do anything useful other than watching movies all day long?" most of my friends ask me, when they see me lying on my bed the entire day, headphones on my ears and my eyes focused on the laptop screen.
I generally don't reply to them in words. A smile is all they are privileged for an answer.
How would I be able to make them understand the extent to which films have changed me as a person? How would I be able to explain to them that films are much more than just films for me?
They would never understand the fascination that Terminator 2: The judgement day created in me the first time I watched it in my eighth grade. The scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger chases the villain in his super cool motorbike over a bridge is one of my favourite movie scenes till date.
They would never understand how 12 Angry Men changed everything about the opinion I had on movies till then. Every movie I had watched till then had entertained me but for the first time a movie, rather a film, lingered in my mind long enough even after I had watched it. I was shocked as to how could an entire film be shot with just 12 men in a single room with no action sequences or comedy tracks as most of the English movies I had watched till then fell in either of the above two categories.
They would never understand how films like The Prestige, Memento, The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense put me in a state of astonishment as the end-credits started rolling.
They would never understand how much films like Reservoir Dogs and Saving Private Ryan mattered to me as it lead me into the world of two of my most favorite filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg.
They would never understand the life-changing impact a film like Schindler's List or Seven Pounds or Children of Heaven or The Bicycle Thief had on me. I, who had only been thinking constantly about myself, about my welfare, about my 'very huge' problems like not being in a relationship, till then, opened my eyes to look at the real world that lay out there.
They would never understand the hard-hitting/heart-wrenching effect that 21 Grams had upon me. Unlike the title that signifies the weight that we lose during the exact moment of death, I felt my heart becoming unimaginably heavy after watching it. It was the film that changed it all. It was the film that made me want to become a filmmaker.
They would never understand how much films like The Three Colors trilogy, Cinema Paradiso, Apocalypse Now, Empire of the sun and 2001:A Space Odyssey influenced me and made me decide to set myself a mark in film-making.
They would never understand the shocking blows that The Lunchbox, Ship of Theseus, Kattrathu Thamizh and Charulata landed upon me at a time when I was under the completely wrong notion that Indian filmmakers were never capable of producing works of art at par with the foreigners.
They would never understand how much a movie like Udaan helped me at a phase in my life when I did not know how to deal with my passion that kept burning wild in my heart.
They would never understand how big a role a film like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya played in preparing myself to be able to let go of my girl when she decided that I was not the correct person for her.
They would also never understand how movies like Into the Wild, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty or The Motorcycle Diaries knocked me hard on my head and shouted in my ears that there was more to life than the mundane routines most of us go through.
They would never understand all these because to them, a film is nothing more than a film. They would never experience the life-changing moments that a film unleashes upon its viewer because to them, a film is nothing more than a film. They would find it difficult to understand as to how could a person take films so seriously but then again to them, a film is nothing more than a film.
Yes. I care more about camera angles and backlighting than 'Protein Engineering' and 'Cheminformatics' I am being forced to study, pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Bioinformatics.
Yes. I care more about Inside the Actors Studio than our monthly Bioinformatics conferences here at college.
And definitely yes. Satyajit Ray, Bala, Mysskin, Anurag Kashyap, Inaritu, Kurosawa are closer to me than most of the people I interact with everyday.
But again, they wouldn't understand all these, would they?
I generally don't reply to them in words. A smile is all they are privileged for an answer.
How would I be able to make them understand the extent to which films have changed me as a person? How would I be able to explain to them that films are much more than just films for me?
They would never understand the fascination that Terminator 2: The judgement day created in me the first time I watched it in my eighth grade. The scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger chases the villain in his super cool motorbike over a bridge is one of my favourite movie scenes till date.
They would never understand how 12 Angry Men changed everything about the opinion I had on movies till then. Every movie I had watched till then had entertained me but for the first time a movie, rather a film, lingered in my mind long enough even after I had watched it. I was shocked as to how could an entire film be shot with just 12 men in a single room with no action sequences or comedy tracks as most of the English movies I had watched till then fell in either of the above two categories.
They would never understand how films like The Prestige, Memento, The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense put me in a state of astonishment as the end-credits started rolling.
They would never understand how much films like Reservoir Dogs and Saving Private Ryan mattered to me as it lead me into the world of two of my most favorite filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg.
They would never understand the life-changing impact a film like Schindler's List or Seven Pounds or Children of Heaven or The Bicycle Thief had on me. I, who had only been thinking constantly about myself, about my welfare, about my 'very huge' problems like not being in a relationship, till then, opened my eyes to look at the real world that lay out there.
They would never understand the hard-hitting/heart-wrenching effect that 21 Grams had upon me. Unlike the title that signifies the weight that we lose during the exact moment of death, I felt my heart becoming unimaginably heavy after watching it. It was the film that changed it all. It was the film that made me want to become a filmmaker.
They would never understand how much films like The Three Colors trilogy, Cinema Paradiso, Apocalypse Now, Empire of the sun and 2001:A Space Odyssey influenced me and made me decide to set myself a mark in film-making.
They would never understand the shocking blows that The Lunchbox, Ship of Theseus, Kattrathu Thamizh and Charulata landed upon me at a time when I was under the completely wrong notion that Indian filmmakers were never capable of producing works of art at par with the foreigners.
They would never understand how much a movie like Udaan helped me at a phase in my life when I did not know how to deal with my passion that kept burning wild in my heart.
They would never understand how big a role a film like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya played in preparing myself to be able to let go of my girl when she decided that I was not the correct person for her.
They would never understand all these because to them, a film is nothing more than a film. They would never experience the life-changing moments that a film unleashes upon its viewer because to them, a film is nothing more than a film. They would find it difficult to understand as to how could a person take films so seriously but then again to them, a film is nothing more than a film.
Yes. I care more about camera angles and backlighting than 'Protein Engineering' and 'Cheminformatics' I am being forced to study, pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Bioinformatics.
Yes. I care more about Inside the Actors Studio than our monthly Bioinformatics conferences here at college.
And definitely yes. Satyajit Ray, Bala, Mysskin, Anurag Kashyap, Inaritu, Kurosawa are closer to me than most of the people I interact with everyday.
But again, they wouldn't understand all these, would they?
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