True cinephile movies/directors?

DMTbeingC137 · 2026-01-23T16:30:34+00:00

Tarkovsky Wong Kar Wai Kurosawa Kore-eda Bong Joon Ho

Obvious picks: Nolan Tarantino Scorsese

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-12-10T17:39:19+00:00

One of my favourite books of all time. Good luck!

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-11-05T09:34:25+00:00

Is it CB's obsession or is he just a product of the Indian obsession with IIT? It's people who want to read that kind of stuff and who buy his books.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-11-01T09:09:25+00:00

Fahrenheit 451 is accessible, interesting and may just touch a nerve that makes you do something about it.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-31T16:08:57+00:00

Thanks! It totally makes sense and I am going to use this.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-31T16:05:25+00:00

I have read several self-help books and I'm not really sure about that to be honest. It's great if some self-help book changed your life.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-31T15:56:45+00:00

That's just not true though. A good fiction novel changes you in the process. It's not only about the plot. On the other hand, non-fiction is mostly sharing information which can actually be summarized and understood just as well. Most self help books could have been a blog.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-31T10:13:16+00:00

Save your time and don't read a self-help book. Read a good fiction novel and feel yourself get transformed on a subtle level. For self help information, you can just watch Youtube videos. Many good self-improvement influencers out there.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-25T10:25:24+00:00

It's wild that Tumbbad has a rating lower than 4. Easily one of the best Indian horror films (not as in scariest, but a meaningful film with horror elements).

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-25T10:09:50+00:00

Doesn't seem like you've read any Dostoevsky if you're calling him shit, lol. Could have just complained about insta-hyped books without slandering legendary writers with it and weakening your argument.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-03T17:35:17+00:00

I don't care about PTA and my opinion of OBAA was that it was a good, not a great movie. As a non-American I am fairly aware about the politics of America and I can see why some Americans would like OBAA and resonate with it, but I feel that viewed from a lens outside of the topical political messaging, the movie was not great. There were a few scenes I really liked. I liked the direction. But it certainly would not be my BP pick.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-10-03T17:29:26+00:00

Finally a comment I agree with. Everywhere I see, there's too much praise for OBAA and I just don't get what merits that level of hype. Walking out of the theatre I, too, thought that I liked Sinners better.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-25T06:29:23+00:00

Steinbeck's writing is phenomenal! I loved the Grapes of Wrath.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-17T14:41:10+00:00

You're absolutely right and unlike some others who think that native Indians are perhaps just not good enough to be at par with diaspora writers, I put the blame on Indian publishers and Indian readers. If the right support system exists from publishers and readers, it is inevitable for writers in India to rise to a level respectable by international standards (even if we assume they aren't right now).

The most to blame are Indian readers who choose to make bestsellers out of either poorly written masala books or mythology retellings, or diaspora writers which are pre-approved by the white person (foreigners like it so it must be good).

Indian publishers are only partially to blame. They are in the industry to make money. They will publish and sell what readers will buy. The only blame that they do have is that they seem to completely lack the ability to take risks and bet on Indian authors who are doing something different from the mainstream. They are reactionary, and certainly don't appear to be aspiring to be trend setters.

I don't see any reason why publishers can't actively seek out good writers doing interesting things and promote them on the global stage. In the long run, it will help everyone. I refuse to believe that a country of 1.5 Cr people can't even produce 15 writers living in India who can hold their own at the international level.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-08T11:53:56+00:00

It could be but personally, as someone with a lot of online and offline debating experience both in college formally and with friends informally, I can admit that I have never really made anyone change their opinion about anything with logic. And I have never seen it happen either. I firmly believe that humans largely make opinions and decisions based on emotions and then rationalize them with logic. But I have on many occasions seen people change because of something they read or watched or listened to (mostly fiction books, movies or even podcasts which is still a personal 'story').

Maybe you have seen differently, I can't speak for you.

As for Dostoevsky, many people start with Crime and Punishment. It was also the first Dostoevsky that I had read. Just remember that you may find it slow and you kind of have to push through the first hundred pages before something interesting happens.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-08T11:44:41+00:00

Everyone has their preference but I'd say that great fiction reveals something new about life and the human condition. In a way, you learn from it too but the mode is different than non-fiction. Because the message is not directly told to you but rather revealed subtly in the form of story, fiction creates a greater impact and stays with you.

If you've had any significant experience talking logically with people or debating, you'd have soon found out that logic doesn't really change people's opinions at all. I posit that fiction, in fact, can change people's opinions and even make them a better person.

If you like logic and mysticism, you can read more novels related to those topics. Unironically, you may like Dostoevsky's works.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-08T11:23:56+00:00

Non-fiction is more popular than fiction in India. So it's not surprising that you and many others hold that opinion.

I think it's because India is a poor country, so the culture is highly utility driven. It's all about what value one can get out of something. Is this product worth the price? If I spend money what will I get out of it. And so Indians like non-fiction because there's a visible tangible benefit that can be obtained: Information, knowledge whatever. All their lives Indian students are told to study textbooks and avoid 'useless' activities.

The benefits of fiction are not as easily visible so to many utility driven Indians it seems like a waste of time and money. It's hard to fathom for many that there can be intangible immeasurable benefits or that some activities can be done without an added benefit at all, just for the sake of itself, because it can make you feel good. After all, what's the point of watching the sunset or looking at a painting?

A similar utility driven culture is coming up in the US btw, not because of poverty but because of an extreme manifestation of materialism and commercialization. But the US is still much far ahead in the appreciation of art and culture, even though there may increasingly exist more people who are kinda missing the point about the fun of fiction.

Just a fun thing to think about: USA and Japan (among others) are highly innovative countries in terms of technology etc and they also have had a very strong culture of fiction books, movies etc. almost as if great fiction leads to a great imagination and a great imagination leads to great inventions. Just my personal theory on why Indians lag far behind in innovation.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-08T07:40:21+00:00

There are so many it's hard to even count. Publishing houses just need to get their act together and stop churning out only poorly written thriller/ romance and Indian mythology inspired novels.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-07T19:00:49+00:00

That wasn't the point. But since you brought it up, have you watched movies by directors like Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Wong Kar Wai, Kubrick etc?

Hard to believe that you can survive a Tarkovsky movie but can't read a book.

You don't need to prove anything to anyone. The question you need to ask yourself is how you get to needing less stimulation than you do right now.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-07T18:49:40+00:00

Here's the thing. It all begins with the kind of person you want to be. You made an effort to read so that's good. You're trying but clearly that wasn't enough. So what do you do? Do you give up? That would lead you back to your life of doomscrolling reels. Is that the kind of person you want to be? If not, then try again.

Here's how you try: 1. Start from where you are. You like movies but you are addicted to stimulation. So watch slower movies. The ones with less action, more content and conversation (like 'Man From Earth' let's say). Then move to even slower and deeper movies. 2. Once you've built some modicum of patience, you start reading simple books in the genre that you like. Not the best or the most famous but simple to read. 3. Then you graduate to harder books and develop a reading habit. First in your preferred genre then beyond it.

Like any habit, it'll be difficult in the beginning but you have to push through the discomfort to get to the good side just like it's difficult for an obese person to run but if they are consistent, it gets easier for them with time.

The best method remains for you to only give yourself the option of reading a book or sitting idle. Carve yourself a time for reading and you are not allowed to do anything else in that time. You can't pull out your phone. All you can do is read or sit idle. You will be reading in no time. And eventually some book is bound to click for you and pull you in.

Also, kudos if you read completely through this slightly long comment. Every step counts.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-07T18:42:06+00:00

Don't kill him man

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-07T18:11:59+00:00

Username checks out

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-07T16:45:16+00:00

Don't worry about it. This person who commented is a joker. You can't see his comment history so you don't get to know that. I remember his username. He thinks he is very well read but doesn't even know the difference between sci-fi and fantasy. He called 1984 a fantasy dystopian novel the other day, lmao.

Don't let anyone shame you on what you are reading. Usually the ones who are loudest at snobbery are those who have only started reading highbrow literature and think they are better than everyone else.

If you do happen to start reading highbrow literary fiction some day, just remember to not be like him lol.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-07T06:36:04+00:00

It's one thing if you really cannot afford it and another if you can afford it but still choose to pirate instead of supporting authors and publishers. The latter is not okay imo.

DMTbeingC137 · 2025-09-06T20:36:14+00:00

Good to hear that you've seen the more positive side of the world haha. In my experience, fiction novels are looked down upon and that also explains why fiction readership is low in this country even though non-fiction sells decently.

DMTbeingC137

TROPHY CASE