“Did your friend want a ‘Kuthu Song’ in a Nolan film? Did you have to take an action movie lover to a rom-com? Hated the movie experience because of that? Welcome to Movie Companions – Chennai!” reads the group description on Facebook.
One of the newest public groups on social media, it is rapidly gaining popularity among movie-goers in the city. An offshoot of ‘Movie Ticket Market’, which was launched by Varun Varadarajan, ‘Movie Companions’ aims to bridge the gap between differing tastes in cinema. So, if there’s a movie you’ve been waiting to watch but can’t find a willing family member or friend to share the same enthusiasm, you could probably find someone on this platform.
“It’s a great way to share the movie-watching experience. Especially if you can’t find someone to tag along for a movie of your choice,” says Varun, an entrepreneur.
The idea took seed when he, a movie buff himself, realised that it was hard to always find company for the kind of films he wanted to watch. “I like movies that are not run-of-the-mill. Not all my friends share a similar taste. This was a great way to find like-minded people.”
The other group he anchors, ‘Movie Ticket Market’, enables individuals to sell unused movie tickets at the same price they were bought at. “Often, people will be seen waiting at the box office, trying to find takers for a ticket that they themselves cannot use. Theatres don’t offer refunds. So this is just an organised platform. However, we let the post go up on the social media page only if it’s valid and being sold at the same price it was bought. No black tickets here,” says Varun.
While this page was set up in 2013 and has over 51,000 users today, he noticed that members were also posting requests for company to watch a certain movie. That further strengthened the idea for ‘Movie Companions Chennai’. While this particular platform was launched a month ago, it has already clocked in over 200 members. And is slowly seeing members look for company to watch plays and performances as well.
