Startup spreading its base to other regional language films.
Keralites living in other states and outside India rarely get a chance to watch Malayalam movies at theaters due to time restriction and limited days of screening. A Kochi-based startup has found a successful way to overcome these issues.
A startup named Reelmonk let people watch Malayalam movies the same day it releases in thaters, on their personal device. Founded in 2014 by two Kochi-based professionals Vivek Paul and his friend Blaise Crowly, Reelmonk has released over 100 films online till date.
The company that started their online release with Lal Jose’s Neena and online re-release of Rajeev Ravi’s ‘Njan Steve Lopez’ in July 2015 has over 37,000 registered users.
It was the troubles that Vivek, a movie buff, had to undergo to watch Malayalam movies when he moved to Mumbai for higher studies, that made him think of a new way to watch movies comfortably.
Vivek discussed the matter with his friend Blaise Crowly, an engineer, and they formed a group to realize their ideas. After two years of hard work by the team of 11, the platform of Reelmonk was ready to go online.
“There is a huge supply problem here. A large percentage of Malayalis live abroad and have to wait for months before a Malayalam movie releases there. In the UK or the US, it is even more difficult since going out for a movie with family is often expensive,” Vivek told The News Minute.
They managed to raise 20 lakh from seed investors, some NRI acquaintances, and seniors from school as an initial investment. Four Malayalam movies and 10,000 members were there on the platform when they launched Reelmonk in July 2015.
Apart from online promotion, Reelmonk is collaborating with Malayali associations by offering discounts to their members.
“We are partnering with a lot of associations for Onam celebration with a month-long list of new releases that will be made available to the members of these associations at a discounted price. Being a homegrown startup, most Malayali associations are keen on supporting us this Onam even without the incentive of discounted movies,” Vivek was quoted as saying by Your Story.
Reelmonk works in a pay per download model with price starting at $1 for a movie. Once a movie is downloaded, it can be watched any number of times, but only in the Reelmonk platform in the downloaded system.
They will launch a subscription model with unlimited access to all movies at the cost of $8 a month and $12 for HD in multiple devices soon. The group has developed a highly protected platform to prevent piracy.