My name is Ram. Born in the early 80’s. Reborn on the web in the mid-90’s. It took a while for me learn to walk the web. As I learned and evolved plenty in the process, something did stick from those early days.

A Hindi film fan joining yahoo for the first time thought he’d be smart and get an account called JUNGLEE. To his disappointment, distraught that it was already taken, he attempted and settled for JUN6LEE. Thankfully, soon thereafter, he did come to realise that SHOUTING ON THE WEB was frowned upon, only then, did it come to being what you see & love today:

jun6lee. It just so happened that this would become my unique social media handle on numerous platforms even decades later and that it’s something I can google to stalk my vane self.

Born & brought up in Leicester, I have been passionate about films (particularly Bollywood) since I was a child. I got myself a job at a small independent Indian cinema back in 1998 and was there through my studying, until it sadly went bankrupt & closed.

I thereafter shifted myself to a multiplex and lobbied for them to procure and showcase Hindi films. It was a battle, but I did manage to get there in the end.

I wrote repeatedly to distributors back then [Eros, GVI, YRF, Spark] to suggest they add English subtitles to their films in aid of reaching a larger audience overseas. Why limit yourselves  just the NRI’s? I got no written responses, but it did happen a year or two later, so that was something.

The common pattern you’d notice if you got to know me is that I’m passive about many things, but when I do set my mind to setting something straight, I’m patient and persistent to the core of me.*

After studying Computer Science and taking up a ’safe’ job in an investment trading software firm, I made a decision to follow my passion. Film.

I’ve no regret, my studying and corporate career have served me well, but that decision in 2005 that I want to work in films and shift to Mumbai to do so, seemed a distant unaffordable dream, but I was adamant on working toward achieving it. Field of Dreams provided the inspiration to reinvent myself.

So in the interim while I saved for the move, I did what I enjoyed with my spare time. I studied & watched films, a lot of films. I started doing reviews, blogging about those film, I made some horrible short films with friends. Don’t ask, they’re really bad.

I took courses in the various fields of filmmaking, I  attended numerous local film festivals. I even got published as a reviewer in Raindance Film Festival’s Annual Programme 2008/2009. Then I volunteered for them and became a part of their selection process, watching numerous DVD’s a week and picking out those worth screening, justifying my choices.

All of this was a learning curve that led me to realise what my specific passion was. I was gravitating towards creative writing, story, it’s structure, it’s my personal poetry when it works. So that’s what I aim to do with myself.

I write. I re-write. I re-write again. I eat. I sleep. I caffein-ate. I cinema. 🙂

* Another Example:

Request: Starbucks Woking

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