I cant say with a clear conscience that i am a hard core harry potter fan till i can say i grew up with the books. I got hooked to the Harry Potter series at a later point of time, i think after i saw the 4th instalment of HP and the Goblet of Fire and that was after the 6th book had been released. While everyone was weeping over Dumbledore dying i was starting afresh with my 1st Harry Potter book.
When everyone was hitting the HP craze i had a simple reason for not going for it. At the age of 10 to 15 i considered myself too "old" to be reading a small kids book. The sweet irony of it was i got hooked to it at the age of 22 at which point of time i justified it saying "fantasy is for all ages". So the one thing i missed was the Pottermania relating to the books and often wondered how it would have been to have grown up with Harry Potter. My friend is one avid fan and always tried to get a copy of the book as soon as it released and in spite of his generous offer to let me read his books i stuck to my guns saying "nope none of that stuff for me". Now when i think back on it i feel i should kick myself over for the "veen perumai" like they say in tamil for false pride.
Still my decision to forgo reading those books till later gave me a fondness for the movies as i caught all of the new ones in the right way, either i managed to jump in 1st day for a couple of movies or made sure i managed to see it in a not so legal way. That was at least something i have done right. Moreover having not read the book i was able to appreciate the movies that everyone deemed worst compared to the books. Recreation of the entire magical world, creatures, the settings and also to portray a magical aura for the entire span of eight movies is no mean feat. The actors were some what frozen in my head so Harry, Hermoine and Ron were Radcliffe, Emma and Rupert even while i read the books.
I was completely floored when i started reading the books. Time and again i sit to wonder at the pure genius of J K Rowling to have written such a magnum opus. I must say i don' t think anyone would have been able to keep the imagination and interest of all HP fans alive the way she has done. The one and only big question that i would ask her if i get a chance to talk to her would be if she knew how the stuff was going to end the minute she started writing the 1st book. I mean its pure magic how everything comes together in the final installment and did she think so far ahead or did she just keep building on it and then tie up all the ends, either ways, it was pure genius. Wish i had even half her story writing skills then i would come up with at least a couple of best sellers. The magical world and the way everyone could relate to a bespectacled kid is not something that anyone can write about.
The reason why i am writing about Harry Potter now is that i could not synchronize my timing with the release of the last book so i am trying to coincide it with the release of the 8th installment of the movie. The directors of each of the movies have been pretty cool trying their level best to recreate that fantastic world in front of our eyes and the 7th movie although lacks some of the action that is usually there in the other movies sets up the movie for the finale in a really good way so it rates among my top movies in the HP series. The other favorites of mine are Chamber of Secrets and the Goblet of Fire. Goblet of Fire holds a special place in my heart for the simple reason that Emma Watson looked gorgeous in that movie and i was like "Wow" when i saw her enter the Yule Ball. (winking smiley).
All in all i confess i have read each of the books a minimum of 5 times (not bad considering i have been addicted to them only for two years). I have seen each of the movies at least 3 times. Thought i would have watched them only twice had i had the choice but then with Pogo showing that movie a countless number of times i had no choice but to see them a few times (maybe not just 3 times). The world of Hogwarts has always been a place which almost everyone wishes to study in. I would say i could do with a teacher like Albus Dumbledore. Snape was a revelation in the final book. So after being able to see that magical world with dragons, thestrals, flying brooms it is kind of sad to realise that the movie franchise is also going to end. I do hope i can catch a ticket for the first week the movie is running at least. I cant wait to see the duel between the snakelike guy and the geek. The movie series have lacked a proper duel between wizards so hope the last movie is the best and fulfills all the criteria for a fitting tribute to an immensely popular franchise and a best selling book that is second only to probably the holy bible.
All the best things have to come to an end. So i guess it is time to say bye to the boy wizard and the big old baddy voldemort and of course Hermoine (another winking smiley). Still it is never going to be the end of HP as the books still need to be dethroned from being the favorites of billions across the world. That sort of feat would require a better level of intellect and imagination than Rowling that might just prove to be a slightly uphill struggle. The movies may have all been released but the legacy of HP will always go on and a small prediction that in the future all the HP memorabilia from the sets of the movie will be auctioned for huge chunks of money. Such is the power of Pottermania. On that note i will say Harry Potter has not ended but will keep going on.
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