The Benzene Review

On one hot summer evening of 2002, I was at some place where an expert speaker on motivation was delivering his share of good will. On that day, he asked us a question, "While watching a movie, do you ever think of what Benzene is? What is it's chemical composition? Why do they even represent it in a hexagonal form with three lines on alternate sides on the inside?" Given that we were in our Plus Two, this was an apt question for most of us (especially to a movie buff like me). The speaker's intention was that the attention span while watching a movie, is what you need to have while studying for something. This one thing stuck with me and the rest of the lecture simply hit my eardrums but did not make it to the brain.

Call it being childish, but from then on I reminded myself of Benzene whenever I watched a movie, just to prove the speaker wrong and that my "mental" abilities and attention span were far greater than I had fathomed them to be. It was not long before I realized that I was being stupid and simply started to enjoy movies without the Benzene ring swirling on my head. However, it set me thinking, what if the movie was interesting enough to keep Benzene out of my head. If the movie was boring, I would be reminded of Benzene, else it would be an enjoyable movie. So, the number of times I am reminded of Benzene during a movie is an indicator of how good or bad the movie is. And, from this insane presumption, a crazy idea took shape - The Benzene Review.