MUBI, a film-streaming platform, is fast becoming a favourite with cine-lovers
Mona
While sitting in a cafe in Tokyo, not able to see In The Mood For Love, back in 2007, Efe Cakarel, an engineer from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, founded MUBI. A curated movie platform that brings together the best from established and emerging filmmakers, MUBI is fast becoming a favourite with cinephiles across the globe.
With its presence in 190 countries, MUBI holds the distinction of hosting class cinema, introducing a new film a day, offering both award-winning international films like Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Diego Maradona, as well as new and classic films from the world over. A rather recent entrant into India (November 2019), MUBI also presents films in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati and other languages, bringing to the table diversity of filmmakers from across the country as well.
Fan following
“A great platform, it’s like a museum and not a mall,” is how self-taught filmmaker Ajitpal Singh describes this film streaming platform. “I am aware that I am going to watch something that has been curated with great care by experts and not by an algorithm. Other platforms are interested in dumping infinite amount of content and let algorithms decide what you will pick for the night,” he elaborates. It’s the personal touch and careful curation is what makes MUBI different and unique.
Adds National Award-winning filmmaker Rajeev Kumar, “Growing up in a rather small place, Mullanpur Dakha in Ludhiana district, Punjab, our exposure to cinema was limited. It’s only once I moved to Mumbai that through festivals I came across world cinema. DVDs, followed by channels like Lumière gave access to foreign cinema. But it was MUBI that filled the entire gap.” A huge fan of films from Latin America and Eastern Europe, Kumar finds MUBI fantastic. While MUBI has an impressive array of Indian films, Kumar banks on it for world cinema. “One could get Indian films from other channels too, but access to quality world cinema is what makes MUBI special,” says the Nabar director.
Interactive model
Ajitpal Singh’s Gujarati short film Rammat Gammat released on MUBI on March 20, 2020, as the ‘Film of The Day’. He adds, “The fact that my first film is available for public to watch itself makes me feel good. I am shooting a web series right now and wish I had more time to celebrate,” he says, as he highly recommends MUBI. “I would recommend it to anyone who spends 30 minutes wondering what to watch on other OTT platforms because there is too much content on those platforms. While on MUBI you only have 30 films at a time, making the decision so much simpler.”
Add to it a community of film-lovers watching and talking about their favourites to the Notebook — Daily International Film Publication… MUBI is indeed a special place!
Extensive catalogue
Be it the uncanny universe of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the magical cinema of Alejandro Jodorwsky, the independent and modern films of Steven Soderbergh or the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, MUBI India has an extensive catalogue, including new Taiwanese, Brazilian, and Tibetan stories. Here are a few famous movies from renowned Indian directors that are available on MUBI:
Satyajit Ray
- Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)
- Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)
- Aparajito (The Unvanquished)
- Charulata (The Lonely Wife)
- Jalsaghar (The Music Room)
- Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder)
- Teen Kanya (Three Daughters)
- Bombay Talkies
- Double Feluda
Rituparno Ghosh
- Dahan
- Asukh
Mani Ratnam
- ThirudaThiruda
- Bombay
- Iruvar
- Alai Payuthey
- KannathilMuthamittal
Amit Dutta
- Museum of Imagination
- The Seventh Walk
- Sonchidi
- Nainsukh
