Movies of the Soul is a blog which I started on 5th February 2013 as part of a desire to express my purely subjective opinions on the latest movies that releases in our theatres. The first review there was on Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, a movie which I watched at Cinemax, Oberon Mall after the show got cancelled at Q Cinemas, Gold Souk Grande. Still, Annayum Rasoolum at Matha theatre, Aluva was the movie I watched first in the year. 2012 was already an year which saw me watching so many movies. It was my second blog after Travel Diaries: Of this World and Beyond not considering the abandoned ones.
The idea behind the same was based on the fact that I spend above ten thousand rupees an year (even when not including the travel, food and parking fees) for the movie watching experience in the theatre watching one hundred plus movies on the big screen to almost no result at all – not to forget the time spent. I have supported a lot of movies just because I felt that they deserved to, and even tried to watch those which I had less hopes as I felt they could use some support. But I had to do better that just staring at the theatre screen, because as a jobless person, the money I spend for the movies was too high – it had to work at least for the intellect.
A screenshot from the top half of the blog, Movies of the Soul.
The total number of movies I watched in the theatre last year was 103, along with the number of flicks I watched at home having a much bigger count – this year’s count is now close to one hundred. I visited nine theatres last year, a number which has increased to fourteen this year. I have travelled kilometres just for a movie that I really wanted to watch, and I have made journeys in a limitless manner in the circle of Ernakulam, Paravoor, Aluva, Angamaly, Perumbavoor, Muvattupuzha, Vytilla and Edappally on a two-wheeler in the rain as well as the extreme heat.
When the newspaper shows the wrong information and I end up on the wrong theatre to watch a particular movie, I travel more, until I find the particular movie. Sometimes, a cruel multiplex cancels a show saying that they can’t have the movie there unless there is a minimum number of viewers, and then I have to travel from one mall to the other. Sometimes, I watch two or three movies on a day continously in a theatre. That was with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Smurfs and Cowboys & Aliens at Q Cinemas, Gold Souke Grande. I have spent all my pocket money for the movies as if I didn’t have to eat or buy new clothes.
A screenshot of the Facebook page of Movies of the Soul.
I have spent too much of my time watching movies, and in the words of some people, rather “wasted”. I have also had Film Studies as my elective for post graduation. With all these, I did hope to be noticed. I have had a seventy five thousand plus viewers so far, so it is more about being “seriously noticed by Keralites”. I don’t know if this has happened before and if it did I have failed to notice the same, but I didn’t miss this one, thanks to my friend Ajai. It was shared by the movie on its official page itself (Angels) Malayala Manorama and PrimeGlitz, and was noticed and shared by the director of the movie, Jean Markose and one of the main actors, Joy Mathew. This one has a mention for my blog, even as they messed up the spelling.
I have had very less attention from Keralites for my blog, and with fan clubs making decisions around here, I was sure that the hope was very less. It is the same reason why I decreased the number of Malayalam movies I watched this year, and I even ended up missing a few movies which I really wanted to watch. Yes, my take Malayalam movies do get read more, but the appreciation has been very low for the opinions. People would be more like, “you don’t really have the right to opinion”, unless they are also blogger, and know the value of opinion. Meanwhile, I make clear that I have always wrote opinions on how I felt, without any prejudice.
Due to the same, I am glad that my blog gets a mention somewhere. Not that I am in desperate need for the same, as I have lived without the same for quite some time now, but this mention makes me happy and it is one of those things that assures me that I am not really wasting my ideas on a blog, and neither am I always a jobless person who is of not much use. At the same time, thanks to my blogger friends, who have made sure that there is a meaning for my blog and has kept me going all these years to this point, and it is something that I admire unconditionally, no matter how much appreciation I get from the world outside 🙂
Watch the video; the mention is by the end of it 🙂
Do spend some time at https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/ with the Vampire Bat and his partial best friend, the Vampire Owl 🙂 To go directly to my post on this movie which I strongly recommend, go to https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/angels/. I know that there were times when I have been a bit careless about the Malayalam movies (it also took me some time to develop my style in writing reviews), because I felt that nobody outside my blogger sphere really noticed them or cared what I wrote, but this small mention is a big boost to my confidence, and I will try to watch more of Indian movies and will try to explore them in a deeper and a more detailed manner. I do wonder if they changed the spelling of my blog intentionally though; after all, I am a cynic; but thanks nevertheless 😀
*Edited from the original post; another one, this time with the right spelling, blog mentioned second 🙂
Thanks to Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com/) for finding this one, and thanks to those behind this video 🙂
TeNy
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