As a writer, you always think the work you do is less “important” than what a doctor or scientist or environmentalist or social activist or does.
It isn’t. But sometimes, you get a letter that makes you re-evaluate your profession a bit, just a bit. This is one of those letters, and I’m printing with permission.
Dear Mr.Baradwaj Rangan,
I’m X…..im an anaesthetic trainee, woking in the covid team, single parent of 2 young girls, and going through a messy divorce with an emotionally abusive, controlling soon to be ex-husband…..
I’m telling you this, because you’ve played a huge part in my journey towards healing……I started reading your blog in 2016…..please don’t ask why i only subscribed to it today..……one of the first reviews I read is of saahasam,……I still revisit that review just to have a good laugh.
I cant really explain what connection is it that I have towards the movies……remembered watching all kinds of movies when I was young…..in all different languages …..they make you think, laugh, cry……a lot of my world views have been shaped by cinema……..but in the last 10 years, with a demanding husband, job and 2 kids, ive seen so few movies……..
and then I found you…….it reminded me of all the things I was missing……sometimes your review captures exactly what I felt about a scene………….…sometimes I laugh……..sometimes I get a little annoyed about what your wrote……..and sometimes, I feel heard and understood…….no matter what, I always find something.
There’s a directors roundtable with Rajeev masand , when towards the end SS Rajamouli speaks about storytelling and whether its a life saving job or not.
I believe it is, do keep writing…..you don’t know who else you might have helped……thank you
Yours sincerely,
X
Baradwaj Rangan 
Vikram s
September 27, 2020
That’s such a heartfelt letter, thanks for sharing it with us BR. Each one of us who reads your writing regularly & engages (actively or as a reader) with other readers in the comments section has benefited and continues to benefit from your writing, the degree might vary from one individual to another… In so many ways.. not sure if you recollect, i had written here a long time ago that reading your articles is like attending an online film appreciation course (maybe you should start one some day)… I look forward to more writing from you in the future… Each one of us has to continue doing what we have been doing (I mean our work…), That in itself is meaningful… Thank you 🙂 (namaste emoji goes here)
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Madan
September 27, 2020
Very poignant letter, heart-warming to read.
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pankaj1905
September 27, 2020
This is beautiful, Sir. It is a privilege to get to read and learn from you. Your writing has changed our perception of movies. We will be always reading.
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Kaveri
September 27, 2020
I don’t have a bunch of people that i can easily talk about films or even the opportunity to watch films in theater. So its mostly a “lonely” experience for me (which i thoroughly enjoy as well). Your blog is that post film discussion with friends – to see what you thought and what the other readers thought. And occasionally share my thoughts. The write-ups post someone’s death give me such a sense of closure. I go through the songs or scenes that you refer to and relish their work and internally say my goodbye to these artists. (And i am so glad you maintain your blog despite articles being linked to the FC page.)
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Jeeva Pitchaimani
September 27, 2020
https://www.highonfilms.com/the-artist-versus-the-technocrat/amp/
This is something I wrote along the same lines in High On Films.
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karthikvaidynathan
September 27, 2020
Come for the film reviews ; stay back for the writing.
Though I don’t watch a lot of movies and would be what one considers as a juvenile in interpreting film language – the main reason I keep coming back to is to read the beauty of the written word in many of your reviews BR.
I have read a lot of fiction since my young age and still do ; thanks to my dad for inculcating the habit at a young age.
For me ,there is nothing more therapeutic at the end of a rough day(and life has indeed been rough over the past few years ) than a great read about an interesting topic.
Keep writing and showing people the beauty in the written word.
After all for those who truly love – we don’t need a mega film set or a mass action block nor a great musical score to take us to scarcely unimaginable heights(of the mind ).
Delectable words in the right fulfilling order(that when you read them give you an aha -it cannot be better ) are enough to spark a lifetime of imagination far richer and fulfilling than could be be envisioned and financed by any film production house.
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Tambi Dude
September 27, 2020
I feel bit awkward to respond, but I am happy that this blog helped the lady in question. Hope all goes well with her.
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Anu Warrier
September 27, 2020
Such a poignant letter, BR. Thanks for sharing it with us. When what you write strikes such an emotional chord in people, you must never wonder whether it’s worth it or not. Rock on!
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Rajesh Balasubramanian
September 28, 2020
True. BR helps us reflect many things. For e.g, when I read Sanju, he pointed out why not own the issues rather blaming the situations, friends/people-around, immaturity,manipulators etc.,
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Sundar Rajan
September 28, 2020
Just amazing… moved… overwhelmed.
I too had a similar experience when a reader mailed me saying my novel prevented him from taking his own life.. No words to respond..
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Ashwini
September 28, 2020
I appreciate the fact that she wrote this in spite of her gruelling situation. I do think cinema and all its paraphernalia including critiques ( actually i look at critiques like you who unfold the cinema and make us learn watching cinema a bit better ) are important part of our emotional selves. Thanks.
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krishikari
September 28, 2020
You are the fire we gather around after a long day of hunting and gathering, pretty essential work, keeping that fire burning and telling stories.
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Jayram
September 28, 2020
Of course it’s worth it! Please don’t doubt yourself, BR. Your blog has brought us all together and I’m truly grateful to read your posts and participate whenever I can. Most importantly, I’ve learnt a lot here and in the process improving myself to become a better person in life. So, thanks for everything you do!
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H. Prasanna
September 28, 2020
It is so difficult to create a safe space with writing that is inviting the reader to feel how they feel without fear or inhibition. You hold your ideas together while engaging the reader without pushing them. Thank you for sharing this great, personal testament to that quality.
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Yajiv
September 28, 2020
What you do is definitely worth it, BR uncle! (You went to college with my dad so I think I’m allowed to call you Uncle 😉). I’ve been following your blog for years now. Reading your pieces and its readers’ comments often feel like I’m back in college having a beer with friends intellectualizing (I hope I didn’t George Bush that word) about various pop culture issues. This site is such a wonderful little slice of the old pre-“social media” internet. It brings joy to an otherwise humdrum daily existence.
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Santa
September 28, 2020
“As a writer, you always think the work you do is less important than what a doctor or scientist or environmentalist or social activist or does.”
As a research scientist, let me disagree vehemently with the above premise. I personally don’t subscribe to the idea of ‘social utility’ of any profession, but even if it were so, there is no way that writing (in general), and writing about art (in particular), is less useful than being a doctor, scientist, social activist, etc.
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v.vijaysree
September 29, 2020
wow!!
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brangan
September 29, 2020
Santa: I guess title of this post, now that I look at it after some of the responses, sounds whiny and self-pitying 🙂 Maybe I should have said “useful” instead of “worth it”… And it’s interesting what you say about the “usefulness” of a profession.
There are some things I have done whose “usefulness” I have no doubt about.
I have created a space for like-minded people to gather.
I have created a platform for amateur writers to be seen/read.
I have mentored some writers.
I teach classes that hopefully instill a love for cinema and thus go on to keep the art alive in a small way.
But as a writer, that question still nags me from time to time. I can understand that reading a book may change your life. Watching a movie may change your life. But reading reviews and essays on films/music?
So that’s when such a letter (like the one I put up) comes as a beautiful surprise.
Then again, I get your point. Maybe “life-changing” isn’t even something one should aspire for. Just keep doing your thing, I guess 🙂
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DN
September 29, 2020
BR- I missed this thread but so glad someone wrote this letter. Most of my relationships with writers are all personal and one-on-one. Writings are always conversational and unique. People who are ardent readers get it. They get the joke. Your write ups have been poetry to my ears. They give me silence, like maybe Pico Iyer or a Milan Kundera does. They make me pause in my life. I feel those pauses heal you. I am so glad the lady wrote this email. I can connect with her. I can understand why she has written it.
In this context, what you do is life changing. These moments are reflective of who I have become and how I have evolved. That’s very powerful.
Make no mistake ever- you are not a reviewer in that sense. 🙂 You write about what moves you and what doesn’t and that’s much much beyond “just” reviews. I don’t read your reviews to decide if I should watch this movie or not. I read it to understand what your experience and emotional journey has been through that movie. That is a very connecting experience.
PS- BTW, I don’t read or watch any other “reviewers”. I am unabashedly one of them who watches FC because you star in it. Not the other way- Ouch!
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Doba
September 29, 2020
Thanks for sharing such a lovely personal piece. I suppose even if someone is ghoulish enough to compare the “usefulness” of different professions, writing would sit right up there at the top. The more troubling thing now, among young people in college, is how the “worth” of a job is measured in terms of the pay check. So a rich man is automatically assumed to be doing something more important.
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Karthik
September 29, 2020
Thanks for sharing the letter, BR. I dont think I’m presumptuous to say that many of us here share the sentiment expressed there.
I can understand that reading a book may change your life. Watching a movie may change your life. But reading reviews and essays on films/music?
The idea of a life changing book or movie is easy to understand because some, if not most of us have experienced those moments of tectonic shifts in thinking or feeling. The writing that you do is, in my view, no less life changing. As Nadine Gordimer once said, “Writing is making sense of life”, and films or music are as good a window as any for us to do just that through your writing (and I’ll add, through that of the many wonderful commenters here). Unlike a singular work of fiction, this kind of writing may not be associated with that one big life changing experience,but it is something that changes us, piece by piece, for the better, over many years. To complete the Gordimer quote, “You work your whole life and perhaps you’ve made sense of one small area.” While the T20 pace of today’s media might stand in contrast, I personally find the glacial impact of the written word to be more lasting.
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vijay
October 2, 2020
If you are really good at what you are doing and passionate about it it DOES make a difference, no matter what is it that you do. It is mediocrity that is occasionally bothersome (especially at work), where you feel what you are doing could be easily bettered by someone else and you aren’t adding anything unique. I think this self-doubt is bound to be a lot more in areas involving art, because of the subjectivity. Most people don’t even think about it I guess, esp. in India. It is a “rich man’s problem” 🙂
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v.vijaysree
October 3, 2020
DN – you are the reader writers dream of and see I too go to FC only for BR…
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