Tamil, Hindi festival releases leaked on TN site in 24 hrs

Even before Deepavali, the festivity has come to an end for the producers of the movies that hit the screens on Friday as all of them have leaked online. The main player in this game of cat and mouse between the producers and pirates is the Tamilrockers, who released Bigil and Kaithi, two of the Deepavali releases, and also the Bollywood films.

According to SR Prabhu, who produced Kaithi, they are fighting a futile battle, as online piracy is a sophisticated network. “It happens at different levels. Theatre owners, knowing very well that the movie content is their fundamental material for their business, do not take appropriate steps to prevent movie being filmed inside the theatres. If you notice, their business never flourishes in areas where the piracy is supported by theatres. But they fail to recognise it,” he says.

He says states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have a much better system in place where the theatres are shut if they are found to be helping piracy. “That is why good movies work like magic and are received well. But that is not the case in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where the authorities are less bothered about our problem due to various factors,” he says.

The plight of the movie producers is such that their business is temporary, while culprits into piracy have a prolonged business. “That’s why producers could not continue their battle against piracy,” he says.

According to him, there are at least 30,000 members in a popular piracy group on Telegram mobile phone app, who share the movie content that later surfaces online. “The government has put a cap on the film industry on the pricing of tickets. So it is their responsibility to curb piracy. Most of the data are shared through the telecom networks, which is controlled by the central government. Piracy could be controlled only if the Centre takes appropriate steps,” he says.