It was hardly a week into the release of his debut movie IDI (Inspector Dawood Ibrahim), and young filmmaker Sajid Yahiya was still on a high.
But then came the shocker that brought him down with a thud, as news emerged on Thursday night that the Jayasurya starrer, which was still in theatres, was being streamed live on Facebook.
No time was lost in responding to the crisis, as the makers tracked down the Facebook account from which it was posted and deleted it. But by then, over 2,000 viewers had downloaded the film.
Many such incidents in the past
“There had been many incidents of film piracy in the past. But IDI may be the first Malayalam movie to be streamed live on Facebook,” a crestfallen Sajid told The Hindu on Friday.
Investigations by the anti-piracy team of Eros International, which backed the movie, traced that the streaming was done from a theatre in Dubai. It was aired through a Facebook profile by the name Kasarottechakkan . “We have also filed a complaint with the anti-piracy wing of the Kerala Police,” Sajid said.
A screenshot of the Facebook account revealed that the person behind the illegal act had been inviting Facebook users to watch the live streaming of the movie from as early as 1.30 a.m. (Dubai time) on Thursday. The post also encouraged viewers to share the video.
“People engaged in such illegal acts should realise that a movie reaches the big screen after years of preparation and hard work, especially for a newcomer like me,” said Sajid.
Officials of the anti-piracy wing of the State police said they were yet to receive a formal complaint. “We will start investigation after getting the compliant. Live streaming of movies seems to be the new modus operandi of pirates,” said M. Iqbal, Deputy Superintendent Police, Anti-Piracy cell, Kerala Police.
“In the past, there had been cases where movies were pirated when they were released online, especially in the Middle East countries. Pirates have the advantage of being in another country, as we can investigate such cases only with the help of the police there,” he added.
