Injunctions fail to prevent film piracy

even though movie producers are getting court orders against screening of their latest productions on cable channels, the latest blockbusters are making rounds in the living rooms. take this: according to a rough estimate by advocates with the law firm lall & sethi, india loses about $440 million in pirated indian and foreign movies. and, the government loses 40 per cent entertainment tax revenue on this amount, the firm added.however, the film federation of india says the industry is losing rs 1 crore per day due to pirated movies. aamir khan got an injunction order for his lagaan, nittin keni secured his production gadar: ek prem katha and so did rakesh mehra for aks. however, gadar was telecast on cable channels on the day it was released. next day, lagaan had a late night special show. similarly, aks has been shown numerous times over the cable. getting injunctions and court orders seems not to have worked. pirated cds of not only indian movies, but also the latest hollywood flicks can be purchased for less than rs 100 and rented for rs 25. many of the foreign movies hit the stands even before they are released abroad. and, piracy is not only limited to metros. within days, one can procure pirated version of a movie not only in small towns but anywhere in the world. "i saw lagaan on the home theatre during the agra summit sitting in a five-star hotel," says one of the journalists who covered the summit. in delhi, which is considered to be one of the major centres for distribution of pirated movies, palika bazar and lajpat rai market are the hub of such cds. not only are normal movies, released or unreleased, sold but hoards of pornographic movies can also be easily bought here. "there has been no survey or study done till date to put the losses due to piracy on paper. but now we are trying to conduct a study on the subject in india," an advocate with lall & sethi said. moviegoers say it is better to see a pirated version than pay for tickets in black. the common man has little or no concern for the revenue loss. it is fair to him if entertainment comes cheap and in the comfort of his home. "it is lack of awareness which drive people to purchase pirated movies. the pirated version does not give quality," said a shop-owner in noida, who claims to sell only original movie cds. however, customers have a different opinion. "there is slight loss of audio-video quality, but most of dvd-digital versions have no problem. and, what more can one expect at such low prices of movies which have not been yet released in india?" asked anju sneh referring to latest hollywood blockbuster, pearl harbour. while india is plagued only by pirated cd menace, recent reports say western countries have gone a step further and are putting full-length movies on the internet. this means that one has to pay just for the internet time to download the full movie. "downloading a movie from the net at speeds available today can take anything between two hours and 12 hours. moreover, one cannot be sure of the resolution. india cannot handle normal mpeg clips, leave aside a full-length movie," says vivek sinha, a netizen. how is piracy done? explaining the how piracy is done, advocate sandeep bedi says: "the night before the movie is released, the prints are sent to distributors and, subsequently, to theatres. depending on the duration of the movie, these can be played and a copy made. this is then further converted to either digital or analogue mode and more copies made." "for overseas releases, prints are sent few days in advance and there also the same process is followed to make copies. these copies are then sold in markets," he added. in some cases, the movie is flicked while being processed in the labs. according supran sen, secretary, film federation of india, "copies are usually made from the prints exported to other countries. the copied versions find their way back into india. even the law permits two cassettes from abroad and these could be used to make more copies. " what does the law say? according to the law, a film's producer holds the right to make copies and permission for its screening in any form. the prints he releases are mere licences to screen them in a particular theatre. even if any other theatre, to which the prints are not released, shows the movie, it is infringement of the copyright laws. piracy is a non-bailable cognisable offence under the copyright act, 1957. under this, the culprit can get a prison term from six months to three years or fine of rs 50,000 to rs 2 lakh, or both. "the laws are very stringent but lukewarm response of the implementing authorities takes out the pinch. often by the time police reaches the spot, the place is cleared and no one is held. even if an accused is arrested, he comes out in a few days and resumes his work," said sen. even though, there have been raids on pirates cd manufacturing units and a huge cache of pirated cds have been seized, there has been little effect on the piracy industry. these raids intensify after a new movie is released but after a couple of weeks the heat dies out and the pirated version comes for sale. soon after the release of vidhu vinod chopra's mission kashmir, a company called cintel was raided in rajasthan. thirty thousand cds of various movies and rs 3 crore of equipment were seized in the raids. bedi said even after such raids there were units in haryana that manufactured pirated cds. on its part, the government has appointed nodal officers and constituted anti-piracy cells in the police department. but for the police to get into action, a complaint has to be filed and incidents of pirated films being shown has to be reported. however, when ticket prices are skyrocketing with the same old facilities in the theatres, it remains to be seen whether or not consumers are ready to file complaints.