Christopher Ravin, Gerard Vijendran and Elena Sumitra.
KLANG: As a mark of respect for their late father, three siblings embarked on a labour of love to metamorphose his traditional movie rental and distribution business to greater heights.
Gerard Vijendran, Christopher Ravin and Elena Sumitra had brought changes to Columbia Video Films (M) Sdn Bhd over the years; the company was founded by their father the late Joseph Michael Benedict Thomas in the early 70s.
The company has also extended its repertoire by producing and distributing content such as made-for-television dramas, reality shows and even a beauty pageant.
Columbia Video Films has now added another feather to its cap by launching an over-the-top media service (OTT) platform named Cneemaa which offers a wide collection of Tamil movie classics.
The platform was launched on Sept 16, in conjunction with Malaysia Day, to denote a brand-new journey for the company.
Cneemaa is a subscription-based model with monthly, half-yearly, and yearly subscription plans starting from as low as RM9.90 and available on multiple devices including iOS and Android.
Its app is available on Google Play and will soon be on the Apple Store as well.
To subscribe, one just has to visit www.cneemaa.com.
Although the siblings had initially considered the idea in 2017, they were convinced that an OTT platform was the apt catalyst to move forward during the Covid-19 movement control order in 2020.
“Furthermore, we commissioned a market research which revealed that older people were now using mobile devices and the Internet for their entertainment needs,’’ said Christopher, who is Columbia Video Films managing director.
Given this, the trio knew for sure their collection of Tamil classics would create a niche market on an OTT platform.
Cneemaa, is currently the only OTT platform offering Tamil classics that go way back to the 1930s.
The platform also offers movies from the 2000s and subscribers can enjoy up to 250 titles at the moment and some 1,500 titles by the end of next year.
In addition to movies, Cneemaa will also have separate segments where members will be able to view song clips and a compilation of the comedy scenes from the movie library.
Christopher said the first phase launch on Friday, was for audiences in Malaysia and Singapore and efforts were underway for Cneemaa to be available in the Middle East by the end of 2023.
“We are targeting a subscriber base of eight million viewers,’’ said Christopher.
According to him, their father had worked very hard when he had set up the company to source evergreen Tamil movies.
“He made sure the movies came with the best picture and sound quality and to date we own the negative rights for over 350 Tamil movies and multiple copyright exploitation rights for over 2,000 Tamil titles,’’ said Christopher.
Joseph Michael died in 2005 leaving the company in the hands of his children.
Christopher reckoned their father would be proud of his children’s achievements.
“Cneemaa is our way of carrying his legacy forward and bringing our movie content to a global audience,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, Gerard said Joseph Michael was a lover of Tamil classic movies which he turned into a business and eventually his company’s business model and niche market.
“His initiative of acquiring Tamil movie content rights started in the late 80s as he had the foresight of its potential and future value,’’ said Gerard.
Gerard added it was their father’s forward thinking that started him and his siblings on the journey to share the company’s collection of classic Tamil movies with the world.
“It is a journey down memory lane of Tamil classic movies and Cneemaa is our collective effort to share his legacy to the world,’’ said Gerard.
Elena concurred and added Columbia Video Films’ achievements were the culmination of their father’s dream which took root in the 70s to keep Tamil classic movies relevant to the masses.
“What he started in reels and analogue movies; we are proud to bring into the digital platform which will reach every corner of the world through Cneemaa.
“My brothers and I are living our father’s dream,’’ said Elena.
