I, Latha Rajasekar, had been a cinephile eversince my childhood. I fondly remember narrating stories of the movies I watched, to my classmates during breaks at school. I am a staunch Rajnikanth fan. Have heard my mom complain, how I used to throw tantrums after watching his movies, to take me behind the silver screen to meet my favorite hero, in person.
Married to an avid movie goer, my interest in the movies grew many folds. I was fond of reading reviews of Bardwaj Rangan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baradwaj_Rangan in ‘The Hindu’ and started keeping a tag of his views on movies, to see if my opinions synced with his. He had been a huge inspiration for me, to develop an interest in writing about films. His technical inferences went above my head initially. But over a period of 10 years of following him, from his wordpress days to his film companion platform, I have learned many aspects of film appreciation.
Another strong influence was from S. Abishek https://twitter.com/cinemapayyan?lang=en from his Behindwoods days. His choice of words to express his views were genuine and mostly echoed mine. His passion for the medium and the technical knowledge were explicit in his simple conversations with the stars. His Openpanna channel’s ‘Roundkatti’ session became my favorite.
My ultimate motivation was from my very own ‘Movie Buff’ Whatsapp group, started by a dear friend named Malathi. It started off as a humble group to pool friends for a theater trip. I started sharing my movie experiences for those who couldn’t make it to the theaters.
My posts about the movies, got some appreciations. Few other friends Sudha and Maheshwari insisted I start a blog. What initiated me to finally take the plunge was, when one of my friend Tara posted a private message saying, she was accompanying me to a film which she had already watched, just to experience it with me. After the movie she said, she couldn’t wait to read my views on the film.
With so much motivation from people I respect and love, I discussed with my daughter on starting a blog. She was ever persuasive in making me take up something that interests me and instantly volunteered to help me.
She and my husband are my first critics in all that I do and they were elated with the idea.
Here I am with LAMOCOM – LAtha’s MOvie COMpanion.
I started writing this blog with no formal training and my appreciations on films were from a layman’s perspective. I realized how wrong I was, after my 100 hour online course – Named ‘Alocana’- Role of Critics in World Cinema, https://lamocom.in/alocana-cinema-and-the-role-of-critics/ at Film and Television Institute of India, Pune https://www.ftii.ac.in/ under the tutelage of Mrs. Rajula Shah and Mr. Mukul Haloi https://www.instagram.com/mukulhaloi/?hl=en. My perspective changed completely and I started appreciating the films from the maker’s perspective.
My horizon expanded to global classic films, documentaries and short films.
“Reelfeelers” is a new group that I founded to house movie lovers from circles around me and we actively discuss our views on the movies that we watch. We do regular activities, including- Reelfeel Polls, Reelfeel Talkies and Reelfeel Film Appreciations. Here is the link to join the group –https://chat.whatsapp.com/Iq2xmnrbwa7JinFcL6LRe0
Happy to share my views and thoughts on this platform. This sure is a learning curve for me in my movie journey, as the avenues are aplenty that entice me and I bet one lifetime isn’t enough to explore my wishlist.
Latha Rajasekar