“I am Vikram Sreenivasan, a filmmaker from Chennai. Triplicane is where I grew up and where my story began. The smell of strong tea from every kadai, the sound of the waves from Marina, and the chaos of the streets raised me before any school ever did.

I did not grow up alone. My cousins Srivats and Sampath were my first friends and my first partners in every childhood mistake. We were born in the same year and lived under the same roof, sharing everything from lunch boxes to dreams. Even today, they are still the brothers who laugh with me before they advise me.

And then there is my circle. Aravind, Varun, Hari, Deepak, Narayanan, Sathya, and Vasu. The boys who turned every corner of Chennai into a memory. They saw me chase impossible dreams, break down quietly, pick myself up again, and still stood next to me. Looking back, I think the foundation of my life has always been people.

I worked in the corporate world for a few years, but every day I knew I was living someone else’s story. My heart wanted lights, camera, and a chance to tell the kind of love and pain that I had lived myself. So I left the safe route and walked into filmmaking. Not because I was ready, but because I could no longer pretend that I was not.

A turning point came when everything in my life seemed to fall apart at once. I was in France after my masters. On paper, my life looked perfect, but inside I was chasing validation more than purpose. And that is when Theera came to me, a story that reflected my own long distance love with Sruthi. We shot it with heart instead of budget, listened to instinct instead of fear, and somewhere between the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River, I found myself again. I realised that cinema was never about applause. It was about honesty. The moment I knew that, I stopped waiting for opportunities and started creating them.

After that I flew back to Chennai to chase my dream with the woman who believed in it. Sruthi has seen every version of me. Her faith in me is not loud, but constant, and that has made all the difference.

Today when I think of what home means, the answer is always Madras. The smell of the first rain on Beach Road, a hot filter coffee in Mylapore, the noise of Ranganathan Street, the late night shows in Sathyam, the quiet corners of Thiruvanmiyur, and the familiar chaos of Triplicane. This city raised me, taught me ambition, broke me once, healed me twice, and still gives me a story every time I pick up the camera.

This is also the city where I shot my first film with borrowed equipment and zero certainty. It is where I met Sruthi during the temple festivals of Triplicane. It is where I still go to sit by the beach when I want to write the next script.

Chennai is not just home. It is the warmth I carry everywhere I go. And no matter where life takes me or how many frames I shoot, this city will always be in the background of every story I tell.”