Mumbai: It’s been years since some of the best filmmakers in the country have struggled to reach a wider audience. Similarly, movie buffs with a fondness for contemporary and parallel cinema have struggled for a platform which gives easy access to the same. After similar such desperation along with his passion and hunger for movies Mr. Abhayanand Singh started the platform of Muvizz.com.
Muvizz is an Over The Top (OTT) or Video On Demand (VOD) platform offering cult, classic and independent films to cinema lovers around the world. It offers only a curated list of titles ranging from short films to documentaries to feature films in various languages to its users so that they don’t have to go through thousands of titles to decide which one to watch.
Muvizz.com gives the community of cinephiles an avenue to share their thoughts after viewing a particular film.Abhayanand Singh, an ardent movie lover and a serial entrepreneur, feels that Muvizz.com will make cinema accessible to the ones who appreciate content-driven films. The platform aims to assist filmmakers at every level to gain global exposure while encouraging diversity, creativity, and innovation in the process. It will also help bring indie projects to life by funding films. Muvizz plans to continuously build its library of films across languages and genres. They also plan to encourage new talents by backing them with funds and resources, so they can enrich the world with quality video content. This idea got actor Manoj Bajpayee’s interest. The actor will ride on his maiden entrepreneurial journey with this venture. He’s closely working with Abhay to give the startup a boost and to mentor it.
The platform is funding and producing films by filmmakers to uplift the stature of independent films in India. They have already funded the remake of Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyu aata Hai with a total amount of 15 lakhs. They have also produced a recent short film called Taandav, directed by Devashish Makhija starring Manoj Bajpayee. The founders are have produced another short film called “Kriti” directed by Mr. Shirish Kunder starring Manoj Bajpayee, Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma. The startup wants to do this for many films so as to elevate the status of cult classic and independent cinema in India.
The platform currently offers free, subscription-based and pay per view options. For paid services, there’s a 50% split of revenues between Muvizz and the content provider. The platform also has advertisements (similar to YouTube) on movies as an additional source of income.
In addition to being a Video on Demand (VOD) platform, the website will have various supplementary features to help its audience understand a particular film in its full context. Since its launch, the website has been receiving great support and encouragement from film personalities like Shabana Azmi, Vishal Bharadwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra, Ketan Mehta, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Hansal Mehta, Nawazuddin, Rajkumar Rao, Nitin Kakkar, Sharib Hashmi amongst others.
The current commercial scenario of distribution and exhibition network restricts many films which are rich in content but have lesser commercial elements. Hence, an alternative platform like Muvizz.com provides a solution and an opportunity that can make these films available to the masses or reach out to the right audience.
