Film pirates are back in the news, after a long gap. The last time they hit the headlines in the State was during the release of the film Bachelor Party , when the cyber cell tracked down even people who downloaded the pirated copies of the film from various Torrent sites.
In this past two weeks, two separate incidents of piracy have been reported. First came the news of the trailer of the Tamil film Puli starring Vijay, leaking in YouTube and other social networking sites, before it was supposed to be released theatrically.
Earlier last week, pirated copies of Premam , the biggest hit yet of the year in Malayalam, were uploaded online and reportedly sold through some shops too.
From studio
Both these cases are similar in that the trailer and the film got leaked out right from the studio. In the case of Premam , the version that appeared online was the censor copy, which according to the producer, Anwar Rasheed, could have leaked out of the studio. The guy who allegedly leaked the trailer was nabbed from the studio, but the exact source of the film’s leak is yet to be ascertained.
A visibly upset Anwar Rasheed directed some harsh criticism at various film bodies, which according to him, have been ineffective in curbing piracy which is eating into the profits of an already struggling industry. He also announced his decision to quit from the association of directors (FEFKA), producer’s association, and the distributor’s association.
Tracking difficult
Though the closing down of CD shops a decade ago had reduced piracy to some extent back then, the mushrooming of Torrent and other sharing sites has made it a hard task for the anti-piracy cells.
Even if a link is taken down, a hundred mirrors of the same appear within hours, making tracking almost impossible. An effective security system in studios, preventing sharing or copying of files from there could be one of the ways forward.
(Reporting by
S.R. Praveen)
