Pre-censor copy leaks, K’taka film chamber to set up Anti-Piracy Cell

Bengaluru, Dec 22: A rattled Kannada movie director, Chaitanya approached the producer, Yogish to apprise that the pre-censor copy of his movie has been geniusly leaked to Torrents site.

The producer complained to the police to no use as there was no substantial action and the producer faced loss to the tune of Rs 1.50 crores due to this grey market phenomenon.

But this could be a breather. Finally the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) is decking up after two deliberations on piracy to set up a dedicated Anti-Piracy Cell to prevent piracy. This was exclusively informed to OneIndia by the president of the KFCC Sa Ra Govindu

"On the 50th day to post release, I found the pre-censor copy of the movie sitting in Torrents. And I brought this to the notice of the producer, Yogish Dwarakish Bungale," said K M Chaitanya, director of multi-star cinema, Aatagara (Player). The movie was released in the month of August, 2015.

This is a dare case of piracy. The pre-censor copy has been leaked by the insider of the movie and the copy bore the name of a censor script writer, Shivu as the water mark. "With the soul objective of preventing piracy, pre-censor copies circulated among the cine-team was given the water mark of each team members to whom the copies were handed over." Chaitanya informed

While the Superintendent of Police, Cyber Crime Division, CID, D C Rajappa blatantly claimed with OneIndia that piracy does not come under the ambit of cyber crime and said the crime falls under copy right act and not IT act, the anguished producer of the movie, Yogish expressed he has lost faith in the system.

It could be noted that once the pirated copy sees its place in the web space the case is fit for IT Act. Moreover, after an amendment was brought to Karnataka Goondas Act in 2009, the piracy comes under the umbrella of this act and piracy crime invites stricter punishment. "Has any movies escaped piracy despite laws enforced to curb?" questions Yogish.

What Home Minister Says

The Home Minister of Karnataka G Parameshwara speaking to OneIndia welcomed chamber's move to set up Anti-Piracy Cell. He said piracy is an issue troubling the cine-fraternity for many years.

The police does not take up piracy incidents suo-moto and only work on the basis of complaints filed by aggrieved persons. When pointed out Aatagara movie's case and police apathy he urged to pass details of the case across to him to direct the concerned authority to take proper action. However he expressed that police certainly take action against culprits.

Inside leak

While the DVD piracy syndicate is an old but still prevailing crime trend, the pre-censor copy leak has given birth to a fresh trend in India. This phenomenon is not only restricted to Kannada cinema industry but also with other film fraternities.

Recently, a Malayalam movie, Preman faced similar trouble forcing the Kerala police to launch dedicated Anti-Piracy Cell in the state. After producer of the movie Anwar Rasheed complained about the leak, the police swung into action to set up Anti-Piracy Cell.

In Bollywood, Ketan Mehta's Manjhi astonishingly left to the grey market, two weeks before the release. The movie was awaiting release in August 21, 2015.

This is the handy work of an insider, Chaitanya suspected. "Since the pre-censor copy that was given to Shivu has been put up in Torrents, someone from his team has got it leaked to the dark market for the lure of money."

Chaitanya further lamented that this unlawful development hugely dented the prospects of the movie and was plugged off from theatres on the 95th day, barely five days before reaching the century mark. He opined that the movie would have bettered in the box office, had it was not leaked.

No movie escapes piracy

Yogish Dwarakish says he has lost faith in the system. "When the system itself is favouring the crime, what I could expect from the police to do?" he says. When asked are you being too cynical, he claimed this is the reality unfolding.

"When a pre-censor copy of the movie was leaked by a team member, what more I could say?" he rued. Despite filing complaint nothing moved in positive. This will not change in anyway in future also, unless mindset of the people involve in the crime changes. "No movie escapes privacy", Yogish opined.

Another popular movie director Soori, whose last movie, Kendasampige was leaked in You Tube and to the shoddy DVD outlets, said the issue is very complex to take control. The syndicate is large and the cancer has spread across the country. Soori alleged that even prominent people are involved in the crime due to which the phenomenon is uncontrollable.

"The roots of the problem cannot be unearthed by catching small-time pirated DVD and CD sellers. They even do not know from where pirating occurred," Soori observed.

Hope

When contacted Sa Ra Govindu, president of KFCC to talk on pre-censor copy leaks and piracy, he informed that the chamber is all set to establish a cell, Anti-Piracy Cell to curb piracy menace. "The chamber has conducted two sittings on the issue and will set up a dedicated cell to tackle priacy."

Though at present there is no concrete information on the functioning of the cell, Govindu divulged the cell would be comprises of retired police officers.

OneIndia News