Is the Censor Board aiding film piracy, unwittingly?

While filmmakers in K-Town are fighting hard to put an end to piracy, there are allegations that the source of some of the pirated copies of new films, which found their way to online torrent sites ahead of their theatrical releases, is the Censor Board of Film Certification!

Recently, composer D Imman claimed that a pirated copy of his recent film, Vetrivel, that was found on torrent sites was a copy that was submitted to the Censor Board for certification.
How did he manage to figure that out? He says, ���The theatrical version of Vetrivel carries the background score that I have composed. But the pirated version, which is available on illegal torrent sites, has a different background score, which is a mix of scores from films in other languages. For certification purposes, editors have the practice of using dummy background scores for films. The original scoring happens simultaneously, and is added before the theatrical release. I am still wondering how the Censor Board copy got leaked, and I am also wondering if these copies have reached the foreign market as well.���

This movie is not the only one facing this issue ��� there have been similar incidents in the recent past as well. The makers of the Malayalam film, Premam, claimed that the censor copy of the film was leaked online. Following that, three temporary staff members in the Censor Board office in Thiruvananthapuram were arrested by the state���s anti-piracy cell for leaking the film���s copy. Interestingly, few days ago, the censor copy of the hit Marathi film, Sairat, which has been setting records at the box office there, was leaked online. The pirated copy had the CBFC watermark, and the makers have filed a complaint. In another incident, Vemal���s Mapla Singam was also leaked a month before its theatrical release. Rumours were that the film was leaked during the viewing-for-certification stage. However, a source close to the makers of the film says, ���The film was leaked a couple of months before its theatrical release. It was upsetting, but then, we just ignored the issue. We still don���t know how it happened. Some say it was copied when it was at the Censor Board, and some say it was leaked during the subtitling stage. We didn���t get into the issue much as we got busy with the release.���

So, is it really so unsafe to send a film for certification? Does the CBFC office not have the proper infrastructure to safeguard discs sent to it for reviews, to ensure copies are not made of the films at their offices? ���It is not unsafe at all,��� says CBFC regional officer, M Mathialagan. ���The copy which is given to CBFC for certification has a distinct watermark.���

���So, it is easy for anyone to crosscheck and identify whether a film has been leaked from the Censor Board or at some other stage. The physical copy, which is the high resolution version of the film, is handled by only one person under my supervision. And once we receive it, we seal it, and keep it safe inside a locker. So, it is impossible for films to get leaked from our end. Miscreants can pirate it from other sources, too, as it���s all digital content now, unlike the olden days. Back then, the content used to be stored in film reels, and it was harder to pirate a film from those,��� he avers.

He adds, ���These days, the market for Tamil films is big, and films are being released across the globe. The makers here have to send the film���s copy, two weeks in advance to distribute it in the international market. It���s easy for anyone to generate or upload a pirated version of the film in two weeks��� time. This is why even Vijay���s Theri was available online on the day of its theatrical release. Years ago, the makers had to send the film only before 72 hours from the release date.���

On Vetrivel film, he says, ���It���s impossible. If they have such doubts, they can file a written complaint and verify it. One should not blame others without any proof.���

Senthil Kumar, co-founder of Real Image and Qube Cinema, says, ���The super-imposed watermark on the censor copy is visible to the naked eye and a person pirating it can easily crop it out if it has been placed in the corners. To ensure that there is no possibility of films getting leaked from the Censor Board, we have written to them requesting that they implement the same kind of digital projection system that is being used in theatres. This will allow for invisible watermarking of the film that the board receives and will make it easier to find the actual source of a pirated copy.���