Ajira Rungta remembers watching Ritesh Sharma’s directorial venture, Jhini Bini Chadariya, at the 2021 Dharamshala International Film Festival. Right then, she knew it was just the kind of film she was seeking for her platform, Movie Saints. “I told Ritesh that I want to make everybody watch this movie.
He had been taking Jhini Bini Chadariya to various film festivals, and wanted to sell it to an OTT platform, but the deal couldn’t happen. That’s how our journey [with this film] started,” recalls Rungta. ADVERTISEMENT Jhini Bini Chadariya, presented by , is one of the many indie films that have found a home in Movie Saints.
Instead of seeking subscribers, the platform follows a pay-per-view model sustained by cinephiles across the globe, offering a space where indie filmmakers can recover costs. The idea is to foster a parallel ecosystem for independent cinema. Rungta launched the niche platform in 2019 with the Assamese film Aamis (2019), but it was hit during the pandemic.
Now, as the platform is being resurrected, Rungta is relying on discerning audiences and strong word-of-mouth to generate buzz around it. “Filmmakers are good at making films, but they are not good at marketing them. We thought of marrying that with the community of influencers, who are writing about films.
Plus, the audience is fed up with mainstream cinema. We have lesser known films. Our pitch is simple—[watch] the movie; if you don’t like it, don’t talk about it.
But if you like it, .