Piracy on the rise

Satellite rights, pressure for star cast, theatre availability, unfair social media criticism and to top it all, online piracy! The future of Malayalam movies looks bleak with it being plagued by multitudes of issues and the rising level of piracy. Despite the best efforts from the industry, like delaying screenings in Karnataka, anti-piracy software, 'Agent Vinod' and 'Third Eye', movie pirates still have the upper hand.

Director Sameer Thahir said that piracy could be curbed if the authorities took appropriate action. “In our State people don’t even consider the film industry as an industry. If stricter measures were taken and implemented, more regulations were brought about and better restrictions and support was given, then piracy can be stopped. Nearly 3/4th of a film’s revenue is lost due to piracy,” said Sameer

“This discussion regarding piracy of Malayalam movies and how to curb it has been a long drawn debate. Piracy is not as simple a crime as it appears. There is so much going on inside the industry and there are so many conspiracies at work that implementing any effective measure is becoming difficult. However, I can’t talk about it, being someone from inside,” added Sameer.

Actress and producer Sandra Thomas said she is very upset with the trend. “Pirated copies of my new movie 'Zachariyayude Garbhinikal' started appearing on the net within a couple of weeks after release. A friend of mine tweeted a still of the movie from Bangalore, just two days after the movie was released, in Karnataka. The Karnataka Government should take responsibility and make appropriate arrangements to curb such instances. Pirated copies of even popular movies like 'Sringaravelan' are available on the net a few days after the release and we producers don’t know what to do about it anymore,” said Sandra.

A major deterrent in curbing piracy is because of the demand for such films by Keralites living abroad. For them, the only option to see a new Malayalam movie releasing in India, is by downloading pirated versions, as they have no legal screenings and the DVDs of the movies take a long time to come out.

Actor, director and producer Prakash Bare’s upcoming movie 'Oraalpokkam', directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, is attempting to offer more options to these people. The movie will be offering paid internet screenings and internet screening rights to the public. “There is still a question of which is better, offering internet screening or taking the movie off the internet? I believe if we offer the audience a chance to legally buy the rights of a movie online, it would bring down piracy to a large extent. There is an option for the people to buy the movie legally,” said Prakash.

However, Sandra said that this measure has its limitations. “One of the major sources of income for us is satellite rights. When we sign off satellite rights it also includes internet rights and so arranging for a parallel internet screening is not possible. The only option is if the concerned authorities and associations come up with an arrangement to screen these movies in more countries. Piracy has come to a point where we no longer think it is even possible to restrict it,” she added.