In a big blow to the Tamil film industry last week, an HD print of Tamil star icon Vijay’s unreleased film Jana Nayagan was leaked. Clips from the film started appearing on social media last Thursday, and by the following evening, HD links of the full film were available on pirated sites. Various special teams have since been formed within the Cyber Crime Wing to investigate the leak and block infringing sites. Six people were recently identified and arrested for allegedly circulating the pirated links. While the crackdown might be a start, it only scratches the surface of a bigger piracy problem.
Tamil film producer G Dhananjayan points out how piracy hits hard for any film — be it a ₹2 crore or a ₹500 crore production. “Piracy is unacceptable and has ramifications, especially before the release of a film. They kill the entire curiosity, revenue potential and respect for the film,” he tells THR India. In Jana Nayagan’s case, the troubles began a few months ago, when it found itself stuck in a limbo with the censor board’s revising committee, ultimately missing its Pongal release date in January.
“As far as Jana Nayagan is concerned, everything went wrong right from the beginning. The inordinate delay has made somebody make use of the timeline,” he notes, calling for stricter mechanisms to tackle pre-release HD leaks. Perhaps a way to secure systems in the future is by ensuring the film’s content stays with a maximum of two people, the producer adds. “We may also benefit from putting this in agreement clauses, stating that the editor is responsible for the final content.”
Digital piracy hasn’t historically spared any film industry in the country, but Telugu cinema has managed to make a breakthrough in this regard.
Earlier in January, the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) to strengthen coordinated action against digital film piracy. Rajkumar Akella, the Chairman of Anti Video Piracy Cell - TFCC (Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce), says their mission is to engage in this battle scientifically.
“In Hyderabad, for the first time, we have a dedicated anti-piracy unit set up by the Government of Telangana. The industry's anti-piracy unit is working in close collaboration with the police towers. We have four cyber commandos, a dedicated team of cyber crime working hand in hand with the industry's anti-piracy members,” Akella explains.
Apart from collecting a database of all the pirate sites, they’re also working on making the intermediaries take responsibility. “Each of these piracy sites is being hosted on somebody's platform, and there are a lot of hosting companies involved. What we're insisting now is that the intermediaries be held responsible for revealing the pirates' identities.”
This is made possible by two approaches, Akella notes. A top-down approach, where you find out pirate identities from the registrars, the intermediaries, CD and service vendors or payment providers. And then a bottom-up approach, where you go right to the source of trouble: camcorder pirates. Every single film will be sent through a forensic process, which will notify them of the date and place a film was recorded.
“These things will take time to produce results, but we're not talking about one film or a day or a week. We're trying to bring in a mechanism to deal with piracy comprehensively,” says Akella. The dedicated mechanism was instrumental in busting two syndicates in Hyderabad recently, iBomma, a notorious piracy platform that had about 5 million users when active, and Tamilblasters. “All of this started with the catching of a camcorder [pirate], who is a foot soldier in the whole ecosystem. This led to several other leads.”
Akella believes the mechanism could promptly be replicated by other industries. “We recently called all post-production and digital cinema companies to be extra vigilant to stop these leaks. You need to have a mechanism where you need to track everyone who is accessing your content. Only then will there be a fear of getting caught.”
Dhananjayan is sure other industries can take a page out of TFI’s book. But, he is quick to add, that’s a long road ahead. “Hyderabad faced a huge piracy issue when Pawan Kalyan's Attarintiki Daredi was leaked in 2013. Around 90 minutes of the film were leaked a few days before the film's release. That is when they started thinking about their anti-piracy mechanisms in a strong way. They were far ahead of us 13 years ago, and now we need to put together everything.”
Akella reminds us that their anti-piracy unit is the product of a ten-year-long effort. “In Telangana, we tried to set up a dedicated unit ten years ago. It became a reality two months ago. This cannot happen overnight, but we needed an institutional and sustained effort.”
