Two indie filmmakers from Hyderabad, Rohit Penumatsa and Camp Sasi, would like to turn the tables on OTT (Over The Top) streaming content. Their foil—ATT aka Any Time Theatre. The response to ATT’s premiere on their theatrical platform avanticinema.com has convinced the two young men that their nine-month-old Avanti Cinema could become a successful mobile app soon; over 10,000 people are expected to buy tickets for the first official release, Story Discussion (s2), which had an audience retention and engagement of about 70 percent—a dream debut. Avanti Cinema, the duo claim, has so far introduced over 40 actors in more than 10 films and series. “It was we who discovered Rahul Ramakrishna who had a role in our first (unreleased) film Sheesh Mahal. He is now in demand in Tollywood. Vivek Sagar was the music director and Gnana Shekar VS, the director of photography,” they say. In the past, Penumatsa and Sasi have made student films, short films, web series, and feature films with Nirudyoga Natulu, Story Discussion, Sheesh Mahal and A Love Letter To Cinema being noteworthy projects.
“I met Rohit when he was barely 20 years old, about 12 years ago. Although he is 13 years younger than me, we got along like a house on fire, thanks to our love for cinema. He was tinkering with short films and home videos and writing movie reviews for a movie portal. We met at a coffee shop through common friends, mostly filmmakers, in Hyderabad. We got talking about having a platform for filmmakers who are passionate about alternate cinema. One that does not reject a movie because of the technical quality. We both decided to bootstrap this project,” says Sasi.While Sasi is from Hyderabad, Penumatsa is from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The duo are full time into cinema and their concept is to make movies or web series and open it up for the public via a ticket. “Currently one can buy a ticket for ₹250 and access our works. In future, we hope to build a base of 20k loyal subscribers to ensure the finances are taken care of,” they say.
Avanti Cinema’s target audience is aspiring filmmakers, actors, producers and professionals in the industry. “Our films cater to enthusiasts who actually enjoy the process, rather than just making a big budget film. Which could explain why our films haven’t reached the masses yet. We do not wait for a studio or producer to approve our scripts. We do not waste months in production, marketing, events, releases, reviews and reactions. We start with what we have. A few friends and supporters contribute as much money as they can, and we keep pushing till the project is finished; after which we move on to the next one. Once a film is shot, it may take 30 days or months or years before its release. The days of waiting are well spent on writing scripts for a new film or a series, or even making a new movie,” they explain. Their idea of running a platform comes from the democratic choice of release, as any other digital platform would immediately buy the traditional/commercial films and leave no scope and space for independent/alternate films and filmmakers. Currently, they use the technology of Vimeo video on demand service for their ATT.
Incidentally, they don’t even like to put their logo or even a watermark while they stream but just be a channel for indie cinema. What is even more interesting is that currently they have a bunch of filmmakers in their own circle and they are working on putting that up. Just pure cinema with no other trappings is how they want to present creative projects, they add.Where do they see themselves in two years with OTT Goliaths such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney + Hotstar and Zee5 straddling the space? “We have our own place—‘alternate cinema’ or ‘a slice of life’ cinema. We enjoy making films. We believe our content is so world class that people will spend money to watch them,” the duo say.
Releases so far
A Love Letter to Cinema
Story Discussion
Nirudyoga Natulu
In the pipeline
Two Shorts (Anthology)
Untitled Pranay Che Project
Divya Bandaru’s Pickpocket
Jagadeesh Prathap’s Chivaraku Migiledhi
With Avanti Films, the hope is that the response to ATT could be OTT in an alternate world.