1. Summer 1989. Apoorva Sagodharagal : Earliest movie I remember going to a movie theatre. I went to the Alankar movie theatre in Vellore during my 3rd standard summer holidays with my cousins. The movie was not great. It was the experience that I remember, all the waiting/anticipation of going to the movie theatre with cousins.
2. Deepavali 1992/1993: MMKR. I remember watching this on Doordarshan in Coimbatore. The dialogues were funny. Even though I was in 6th standard or 7th standard, I still recollect the dialogues were so funny (Bhim boy, Bhim boy,...) that it kept me glued to the TV in the evening on Deepavali. I waited for the movie to get over before going out to burst crackers.
3. Summer 1993. Aladdin. I watched this movie with my cousin Narasimhan in the Apsara Theatre (??) in Vellore. I had zero expectations going in. But I was mesmerized coming out; with the movie playing out in my mind for a week later on.
4. 1996 Independence Day. Woodland Theatre, Madras. My cousin Balaji took me and my brother to the theatre. I was in 10th standard. I was watching an English movie after quite some time. My parents did not put Star/Cable TV in my home. (It's another story that my father scolded me for bringing my friend's cable tv guy in front of him for payment without giving him a heads up). This movie was scary and mesmerizing to me; kept me on the edge of my seat. I was discussing this movie with my classmates for 2 weeks after watching it. To watch the movie, I was looking forward to the evening for the entire day. All in all, unforgettable.
5. Summer 1998. Home Alone 3. Ega Theatre, Madras. I watched it with my school friends. I used to own a Kinetic Honda those days. A lot of fun, a lot of laughter in the movie. Laughed, laughed, and laughed. I also watched Titanic with the same group of friends that summer (1998), but that did not register as much as Home alone 3. Definitely something in that movie. Fast forward to 2017, I watched this movie together with my family. I and my daughter watched it multiple times over, still did not get bored of this movie.
6. Winter 1998 Ronin. I was on the BITS Pilani campus. We used to have both an English and Hindi movie every week screened at the main auditorium by RAC. I still remember that after this never heard before English movie; there was a test the next day. But boy, was I glad to have gone to this movie. The car chase scene in that movie was unbelievable; nothing I had seen so far in Tamil action scenes had been in the same category as the above movie. Once I bought my first DVD player in 2005, this was one of the first DVDs that I had purchased.
7. 1999 Summer The Mummy. Watched it with my brother and neighbor Suchi in a theatre near Vadapalani, Madras. All of us loved it.
8. 1999 Mercury Rising. I believe it was back to back movie screening during/after Apogee. Junta was asked to choose between this movie and Armageddon. I was ok with either, but it looks like most of them had already seen the latter, so this got a louder roar, and with a voice vote, this movie was chosen. Thriller; it kept me on the edge of the seat at that time. If I watch the movie now, probably it will be silly.
9. 2001 Minnale. Pilani Tamil Mandram was screening this movie on QT. The same day in the main theatre in Audi, the Hindi movie Kaho Na Pyaar Hai was playing. Had to pick between this movie and that one. I was having butterflies in my stomach after watching this movie!
10. 2003, My Cousin Vinny. I watched this movie at a friend's house in College Station TX. It was funny. Fast forward, when I watched this movie later with my wife, she loved this movie very much. This is one of her favorites. She always asks to watch this movie when she wants to unwind.
11. 2004. Bourne Identity. I watched this movie with my friend Abhiram at College Station on his computer. It was almost additive when I saw it. This carried/built my fascination for the spy thriller movies - and I faithfully watched every Bourne movie later on multiple times.
12. 2005, 2020. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. I saw this movie in 2005 and liked the story; especially the ending. I rewatched all the harry potter movies in 2020 (quarantine) with my daughter. This is my favorite among all of the other Harry Potter movies.
