It feels great to resume writing a column for sunday mid-day after 26 years—to a new generation. I used to have a column in mid-day around 1988-90. In my second innings, I’d like to share a lot of things that excite me, mainly cinema — Indian cinema, regional cinema, world cinema, behind-the-scenes stuff. 

I’m just back from the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, to whom I have been India Consultant since 15 years. This year, there were 12 Indian films at the Berlinale, mostly films that I had recommended, and included international films by Indian directors. It is a career high for me, to help so many Indian films shine at an A-list film festival, that too without an ‘India focus.’ But more than that, it is a marker of the vitality of contemporary Indian cinema. The films selected include Imtiaz Ali’s Highway, Avinash Arun’s Killa (Fort), Pushpendra Singh’s Lajwanti (the Honour Keeper), Jessica Sadana and Samarth Dixit’s Prabhat Pheri (Journey of Prabhat), Jayan Cherian’s Papilio Buddha, Franziska Schönenberger and Jayakrishnan Subramanian’s Amma & Appa, Satyajit Ray’s Nayak, K. Hariharan and Mani Kaul’s Ghashiram Kotwal, Shambhavi Kaul’s Mount Song, Kush Badhwar’s Blood Earth, Gaurav Saxena’s Rangzen and Sanjay Rawal’s Food Chains.