Now, a site for those films you never get to see

Muvizz, an online platform, focuses on putting the spotlight on indie films that miss out in the rat race

Muvizz co-founder and CEO Abhayanand Singh on the sets of Kriti with director Shirish Kunder

When Gangs of Wasseypur released in India in 2012, Abhayanand Singh, then an investment banker living in Singapore, was mighty upset that it did not release there. That could well have been the genesis of Muvizz, a venture he went on to start to cater to lovers of independent cinema and cult classics. Launched earlier this year, Muvizz is a VOD (video on demand) platform that's a repository of some very rare film titles from around the world, especially those that didn't find a proper theatrical release.

"Be it in India or elsewhere, there are countless films that don't manage to find a theatrical release. The ecosystem is such that it only caters to big names and banners. There's always a Marathi film that is not reaching a Maharashtrian sitting in Delhi, or a Bengali film not reaching its audience in Mumbai. That's where we come in. We are about quality titles, we curate one film a day — it could be from any genre in any language," says Singh who co-founded Muvizz with Piyush Singh, his brother-in-law. "He comes from a media background, so his know-how came in handy," adds Singh.

They purchase rights to films and the cost depends on the tenure of the rights and whether the film is exclusive or not. "Recently, we screened a RD Burman docu, titled Knowing Pancham — that was exclusive. Both subscription and pay-per-view option is available," Singh says. Singh is pleased with the response so far. "Interestingly, 50% of our traffic comes from countries like Turkey, Brazil, Vietnam, Poland — not the places you would expect!"

However, Muvizz goes beyond being a cinema viewing platform. They want to consistently generate content too. Having launched two hugely successful short-films Tandav and Kriti, they are now aiming to become a desi "Netflix Originals" of sorts. "We are in the process of finalising the cast and crew for a web series. There's a lot of talent out there which should be put into good use. We are also trying to crowd-source funds for the remake of Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai. We understand the digital marketing space, so we want to help independent filmmakers in every possible way," Singh signs off.

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