Combating piracy
Piracy continues to plague the film industry and for every preventive action filmmakers take, the pirates come up with a more sophisticated way to beat it. Says Sudarshan, a CA student who has taken it upon himself to help the industry tackle the menace, “Piracy cannot be stopped but can be controlled effectively using the right applications.” Using basic software and modifying it to suit the specific needs of film producers, Sudarshan has managed to track, control, take action and protect the original works and the copyright holder. “The application enables us to monitor downloads by identifying the IP address of the computer. Through a court order, the offender can be notified through the ISP. For specific instances, when a producer signs up with us, we mislead the downloader to other sites or wrong downloads, thwarting his attempts and exposing his identity,” says Sudarshan. He is in the process of developing a proprietary software, but in the meanwhile, his www.copyrightmedia.in offers anti-piracy software to the music and movie industry at nominal charges. “Copyrightmedia works on the edge of targeting and removing all downloadable links on file-sharing communities, torrent-sites, blogs and forums from the internet,” informs Sudarshan.
Wielding the megaphone
When it was released in 1981, the S. A. Chandrasekar-directed Sattam Oru Iruttarai became a superhit, catapulting its hero Vijayakanth to dizzying heights of stardom. When SAC decided to remake Sattam Oru Iruttarai , it was widely reported that Sneha, SAC’s grandniece, would direct it. But it was alleged that SAC was actually calling the shots. Now, Sneha clarifies, “I grew up in a family involved in films and developed a great interest in filmmaking. When the opportunity for direction came up with my mom and SAC producing the remake of Sattam Oru Iruttarai , I jumped at it. Despite being a novice at directing a full-length feature film, I am able to take all the crucial decisions on the sets. I have gained a lot of experience under SAC earlier and even now, I do take his advice. The dedicated cast includes Thaman Kumar, Reema Sen who plays the sister, Bindu Madhavi and Piaa Bajpai. We have just completed one schedule and everything has worked out as per plan.”
Busy as a bee
She may have played the second heroine in several movies, but Meenal is busy as ever with two films almost over, and two awaiting release. “I am quite excited about Bharatiraja’s Annakodiyum Kodiveeranum and I am confident my role in it will take me to a different level. At the same time, Thankar Bachan’s Ammavin Kaipesi is equally important to me — I play a village girl and share screen space with Shantanoo and Iniya in the film. One of my earlier films I thoroughly enjoyed working in was Aadukalam which had Dhanush as the hero,” says Meenal. Her two films awaiting release are Kaliyugam and Machan.
Emotional journey
Vamsee Krishna turns producer and dons the hero’s mantle for Parents , a bi-lingual in Tamil and Telugu. After his Happy Days, Call Centre (the Tamil version Chennai Pattinam is awaiting release) and Subhapradham (guest appearance) in Telugu, Parents will probably mark his debut in Tamil. “Ready for release in August, Parents is about an orphan with sixth sense. He believes his parents are alive and sets out searching for them. He wants to know why he was abandoned. In the process, he comes across several obstacles. Parents has been made as a road movie with a lot of drama in it,” reveals Vamsee. With sketchy details, the hero looks for them in his hometown Karaikal, following the trail to Hyderabad, Goa and Mumbai. Helping him in his mission is Ruchika Babar, who naturally falls in love with him. Parents will be an emotional journey of self-discovery.
