I began my life with a song. I don't remember what it was, but I have more trouble remembering what came next. In the first instance, I have to find out from the vast, endless sea of melodies that a baby could only have carried over by a past life, some unexplained memory from the mother's womb or an example of musical invention which I have not displayed much since. What came next was comparatively a much easier battle: finding out if the first film I watched was Satyajit Ray's Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne or John Hughes' Home Alone. Those were not the days of cable television in our house. In our video collection, these were the only two movies suitable for very young children. I repeatedly watched these two movies until I was 6 years old, after which I went to movie theatres and watched cable tv. I can never solve this debate of which was my first movie, but I am proud that these are the movies that I started my life with. These are the movies that made me fall in love with cinema so completely that I have rarely known complete fulfillment until it has been inspired by film. The simple feeling of being awed, witnessing some of the greatest moments of visual and auditory experiences as well as sometimes having the luxury of going over it again and again, I cannot think what I would have been without film. What would I have done had I been born 150 years ago? What would have given me the complete pleasures that film gives me now? I might have found other art and pastimes to consume, but I would certainly have not been the same person I am today and have been all my life. So, here's to Film, to all many details that go into creating that magic, and to that magic that enriches my life everyday.
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