Cinema to me has always been a fascination. It has been an eye opener, a window to the world and to life. I’ve always found myself deeply observing a film, looking for insights, for similarities and differences to what I see in day to day life. I’ve lived and re-lived a thousand memories and experiences in my own life through scenes, dialogues, songs and expressions on the screen. It has been a wonderful reflective medium that has helped me learn a lot about myself and about life.
Four years ago, I caught the blog bug and started ‘Srini at the Movies’. Through these 100 films, I’ve been exposed to hundreds of different dimensions of life splashed on the screen to explore and write about. All along, my endeavor has been to share what I have experienced or felt while watching a movie, in the process of writing about it. I encourage movie goers to try and gain something from the films they watch, apart from entertainment.
As I write this, I think about how my interest in cinema took shape. It is partly genetic I feel, with my mother being a huge movie buff in her youth. It is also said that she frequented the theatre right up to the last few days before I came into this world. It was my dad who introduced me to the classics when I was in school. ‘Ben Hur’ was the first step in a first rate cinema education. As I grew up on classics, for a long time I missed the buzz of watching newly released movies. Today I am able to maintain a healthy balance between old and new cinema and I owe that to my partner, as she keeps me current and ‘with it’, at least as far as cinema goes.
I would have liked to be more prolific these last four years. I probably would have completed 100 some time ago. But, I’ve always written when I felt like writing and never allowed myself to be compelled to write, or to watch a movie. Most of the films on this site are those that I have encountered. Some that I got to see in theatres, some that I came about while reading about cinema and some that I discovered as I waded through racks and shelves of book stores. There is serendipity and the films have been an important part of my journey through life. Sometimes when I look back at the writing over the years, I also understand my own continuing evolution.
I will continue to write, now at a faster clip and I hope that the next 100 films shall have a broader range over time, genre and language as compared to the first 100 and hopefully spread over different platforms. I look forward to your support and feedback as always.