wealth asks working professionals how they spend their salary every month. As part of this series, we chatted with a film buff who spends good money to watch movies.

Name: Darshan Dayal
Age: 26
What I do: I am a marketing and packaging manager with a film unit company
Where I live: Chennai

DARSHAN'S designation may sound a tad too drab, but he is a livewire when he starts discussing films. "Watching movies is a passion that has now become my profession. So, it is important for me to understand movies for academic reasons, besides enjoying them. Watching movies is a spiritual experience," he laughs.

Darshan owns a 42-inch (106 cm) Sony Trinitron. His sleek Sony DVD player takes pride of place in his room. "I bought the DVD player in Singapore eight years ago. It cost me Rs 5,000 then. Believe me, it was a lot of money for a college student," reminisces Darshan.

Darshan earns Rs 40,000 per month. And this is how much he has spent:

Investment on entertainment	Amount spent (in Rs)
DVD player	5,000
Television set	54,000
DVDs (including rentals)	7,000 (per month)
Total	66,000

An aspiring filmmaker, Darshan says, "I am particular about the audio. I (like to) watch movies at Sathyam Cinemas because the theatre uses a high-definition digital movie projection technology called RDX (Real Digital Experience). But since Sony has good sound clarity, I have no complaints."

Photograph: AP/Michal Krumphanzl