A verandah is a space in between — not completely inside, not completely outside. It is where people sit over a cup of tea, exchange stories, and spend time together. Built around this idea of an open, shared space, The Verandah Collective is creating a corner for conversations in Thiruvananthapuram.
Founded by Arun George, the collective creates a space to discuss a myriad of topics like films, pop culture and shared interests — conversations that usually remain online.
For Arun, the idea came after years of moving between cities. Born and brought up in Thiruvananthapuram, he spent several years in Bengaluru working in digital marketing.
“When I complete a project, I usually get a two-month break. That is when I started thinking about this idea,” says Arun.
Arun had seen how community-based spaces around interests and ideas had become part of Bengaluru’s culture. Coming back to Thiruvananthapuram made him think about how similar conversations could happen here.
The starting point was film, a subject he loved the most.
“I have been watching movies rigorously since childhood and have been reviewing films for the past eight years. However, the knowledge and conversations on cinema were happening online — on Reddit, Instagram and YouTube. I started thinking, how do we bring these conversations offline?” says Arun.
And that became the foundation of The Verandah Collective, which started in February.
Arun says the idea behind Verandah is not to replace existing spaces or function only as a film club.
“We are not trying to become an intellectual collective or a society. The idea is to talk about mainstream cinema and things people already connect with,” he says.
The collective began through collaborations with spaces that were interested in building communities. Instead of limiting conversations to one movie, the sessions are structured around broader ideas from multi-starrer films and sequel culture to politics, censorship and changing trends in cinema.
The discussions are prepared with themes and presentations, but the intention is to keep the atmosphere flexible.
“The conversation should help people talk about different things rather than sticking to one point,” Arun explains.
“A discussion may begin around one theme but eventually move into something else. For example, once, our discussion explored films on memory loss, including Ghajini, Memento, Shutter Island and Kishkindha Kaandam. Once the planned discussion ended, the room opened up into a broader conversation about personal cinema experiences. We also do a little bit of a trivia quiz based on a theme.”
Behind the planning and preparation, Arun also has support from his wife Priya Sebastian, who helps with the meetups and fine-tuning the presentations that shape each discussion.
The first session had around 10 participants, with the number growing to 12 and 15 in later sessions. More importantly, Arun noticed people returning for multiple discussions.
“In the third session, we noticed that about half the people who came for the second session were returning audiences. That was a good sign for us,” he says.
For now, films remain the entry point, but the larger vision goes beyond cinema.
“At some point, we want Verandah to become a blanket community for all things pop culture — from films, music, books, gaming and everything in between. We hope to reach there soon,” he adds.
The collective wants to organise these discussions biweekly. While its long-term collaboration continues with The Artist Cafe, Verandah is also partnering with various spaces for individual sessions.
The upcoming discussion will be held in collaboration with Eve’s Coffee, exploring investigative films, followed by another session in collaboration with The Reading Room around movies inspired by books.