The clouds of crisis on Bollywood are not stopping, piracy hits the industry after corona virus

Recently, Kriti Sanon-Pankaj Tripathi starrer film ‘Mimi’ was leaked online. Because of this, the film had to release five days before on the OTT platform. Earlier, Salman Khan’s film ‘Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai’ has also become a victim of piracy. In this way, the crisis of piracy has started looming over Bollywood in the midst of Corona. Navbharat Times talked to the experts to find out how these movies get leaked and which medium is safer in OTT vs Cinema. Here is a report: ‘Mimi’, which was released on OTT, was released prematurely by the producers in a hurry. The reason was its leaking online but if this film was going to be released in theatres, then it was not possible to release it so soon. Not only ‘Mimi’ but nowadays the effect of piracy is visible all over Bollywood. Salman’s Eid release ‘Radhe’, which was released on pay per view model, also became a victim of piracy. Due to this, its distributor suffered a lot. Although the producers also took strict measures against the people associated with the piracy and illegal distribution of the film, but they still could not stop it completely.

OTT has increased the cases of piracy
Apart from these two big films, many other films are often victims of piracy. Experts say that the cases of piracy have increased after the films came directly on OTT. Regarding this, producer and film business analyst Girish Johar says, “If a film is releasing on OTT and someone while watching the film on a laptop turns on the camera on the side, then the film will be copied. We need to take huge steps to protect films from piracy on OTT. It takes a lot of money to make a film and where it is to be released, they also spend a lot of money and take the film. Both have a disadvantage in its piracy.

Is cinema more secure?
The biggest question about films being leaked before release on OTT is that how do these leaks happen? Regarding this, Girish says, ‘It is very difficult to say where films leak. When the film is shot, it goes to the production team on the hard drive and then goes for post production. When the film is finalized, it also goes from the lab to the studio. In the midst of all this, the film can be leaked from somewhere else too.

Difficult to copy a film in cinemas
According to Johar, ‘There was a fear of leaking the censored copy when the film was released in theatres, but there is no censor in OTT that if it is leaked before its release, then there must be someone somewhere. It was difficult in the cinema because there is a checking before entry. In the cinema, if you are copying from a camera, then it is difficult to copy there if the people around you see. Of course, piracy has become easier since online movies have come. Earlier, the film had to be sent to overseas two weeks before its release, so during that time also the film would get leaked but due to easy copy paste in online, it has become more easy to leak the film.

Film data is encrypted
However, cinematographers consider themselves more secure. In this regard Yogesh Raizada, Vice President, Wave Cinemas says, “At cinema, we directly download and play the movie provided by the distributor. It is not possible to do piracy with our video camera here. Apart from this, the data of the film is so encrypted that you cannot copy anything from it. Now everything is server base and nothing can be stolen from there. Cinema is the safest place to release films as of today.

open piracy
Apart from online piracy, the business of piracy is also running rampant in the markets of Delhi. Till a few years ago, pirated DVDs were sold a lot in Palika Bazar located in CP, but at present there is no piracy in Palika Bazar. A shopkeeper here told that the company of films keeps roaming here, so piracy is stopped right now. Another shopkeeper said that now most people download and watch movies online. For a long time, people have stopped asking for CD-DVD, so we no longer do CD-DVD business here. However, you will definitely find pirated DVDs of all the new movies released on OTT recently in Old Lajpat Rai Market of Old Delhi. When inspected here, DVDs of ‘Mimi’ and Vikrant Massey-Kriti Kharbanda starrer ’14 Phere’ were available for just Rs 50. If you want, the shopkeeper will also put the film directly in the memory card of your mobile.