Film Companion Turns Four

Dear movie lover,

This week we celebrate the fourth anniversary of Film Companion. It's been an exciting year for us. We rejigged our website. We launched FC South as a separate YouTube channel. We kicked off the FC Film Club on Facebook – over 7000 members exchange notes and argue daily about cinema. And we continued to create – on video and text – engaging and informative entertainment journalism. Or at least that is the attempt!

FC is a tight-rope walk. We are fighting for eyeballs but we don't want to resort to click-bait headlines or salacious news items to get it. We want our content to be worthy of your attention. We want to add value to your experience of pop culture – films, original streaming shows, shorts, television, music, comedy, even film books. As the name promises, we strive to be your constant companion.

Directors often tell me that since it's impossible to predict audience taste, they tell the stories they like because that way they can be sure that at least one person will enjoy it. We follow the same motto at FC. We do stories and interviews that we want to consume. These range from A Dummies Guide to Sound Design with Anish John to an interview with Diljit Dosanjh in which he tells us why he hasn't bought a private plane yet and how his singular style evolved. We are equally curious about both.

At FC, we like to mix it up – high and lowbrow, long form and bite-sized content, Bollywood, Hollywood, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada (we are trying hard to get someone in place for Marathi and Punjabi cinema). On our platform, Diljit rubs shoulders with Shah Rukh Khan and Mahesh Babu. There's Deepika Padukone and Ramya Krishnan. And cinematographer Anil Mehta, choreographer Ganesh, action director Sham Kaushal and as many directors as you can name – we are especially fond of directors!

Thank you for sharing our passion for film and entertainment. You make it possible for us, week after week, to go out there and find the best stories. You give us courage to ignore the skeptics who warn us that there aren't enough takers for content like this, that millennial audiences only want quick, snacky stories, that we will never be able to scale.

I think all the positive feedback you give us on YouTube and social media and our growing numbers are proof that there are enough FC folks out there.

Thank you for your support. I can't wait to see what adventures unfold in year 5!