Hardcore movie buffs tend to have two priorities: watching all the latest films as close to release as possible, and owning a vast library of their favourite films.
With a large section of Malayalis belonging to this category, it comes as no surprise that cinema halls in the State are usually packed come Friday. But the situation has not been so rosy for Kerallites living abroad, who often resort to illegal methods like piracy, just because they lack access to the films they love.
“For Malayalis abroad, the distance to the nearest theatre which plays a Malayalam film or the limited time it plays for are larger factors that cause them to embrace piracy than a lack of purchasing ability,” says Vivek Paul, Chief Operating Officer of Reelmonk.com, a website that lets users download and watch high quality Malayalam movies legally.
The idea behind Reelmonk, according to Blaise M. Crowly, who co-founded the website with Gautham Vyas and Vivek, was to provide the international audience with an alternative to resorting to piracy. “Providing high quality content at an affordable price was the key, as Apple proved with iTunes. By providing songs for 99 cents, they almost wiped out piracy in the music industry in the United States. We have 35 lakh Malayalis abroad who do not have easy access to Malayalam movies.”
Reelmonk works on a pay-per-download system, where users can purchase credits and use them to download the films they choose. A 720p HD version of the movie can be downloaded for Rs.180 and the full HD 1080p version for Rs. 300.
These are downloaded to the users’ computer (iOS and Android apps are also on the way), where they can be played back on the proprietary Reelmonk player. “By creating our own file formats, we have ensured maximum quality at acceptable file sizes, and also made each downloaded copy unique, so that in the unlikely event one of our copies is leaked online, we can identify which user pirated it,” says Blaise, highlighting the security features put in place by the team.
Vivek emphasises that the idea is not to eat into the profits made by cinema theatres. “We ensure that producers have full control on where and how their movies are released. They choose in which countries we release the film, and when. So the film can come out on Reelmonk as soon as it releases in theatres, as soon as it finishes its theatrical run, or at a later date,” he says, as Blaise adds, “films are made with such big budgets to optimise them for the big screen, so we leave the decision of the online release schedule to the producers.”
The duo says that the idea is for Reelmonk to function like an online cinema hall. “We are eyeing a tentative 15 releases a month, of which the full catalogue will be available abroad and select titles in India.
We are also talking to satellite rights owners to see if they will be willing to upload their library online, as it will benefit younger viewers who can view the older films these players own, and generates more revenue for the owners of the rights as well,” says Blaise, explaining that Reelmonk splits 70 percent of earned profits with the producers.
While Reelmonk is planning to expand to multiple platforms and allow users to sync their downloaded files across devices, Vivek says that streaming content like Netflix is not on the cards. “Users like to own content, and we all like going back and watching our favourite movies again and again. We want to make such content easily accessible with just a couple of clicks.”
Among the films available in the full international catalogue are Njan Steve Lopez , Nee-Na , Compartment, Kanthaari, St. Marysile Kolapaathakam and more.
