The pirated online adaptation of the Malayalam movie Premam appeared to be the “full length version” of the film submitted for censoring, according to anti-piracy investigators.
On Monday, they visited the Censor Board’s local office here to understand censoring procedures. They also watched the censored and uncensored copies of the film.
Officials said the pirated copy was longer than the screen version. Certain sequences appeared muted. The hidden digital security features on the pirated version seemed similar to those in the “censor copy”.
The police would compare the digital time code on the censor copy with that on the pirated version to find whether they matched or not. They also recorded statements of the film producer Anwar Rasheed and director Alphonse Puthran.
The piracy came to light when at least two “bootleg” film websites made Premam available for illegal download in mid-June.
Soon scores of file-sharing sites followed suit. The movie was illegally streamed online and downloaded innumerable times. It was widely disseminated, causing a huge dent in the producer’s earnings.
Investigators said piracy remained a menace in Kerala primarily because those who indulged in it rarely felt guilty of the crime. Pirate-run websites operated out of foreign countries where the law had scarce reach. Most of them thrived on advertisement. A few also charged a small subscription from their registered members.
Movie pirates paid young internet hobbyists to upload pirated movies. The contributors spoofed their IP addresses to avoid getting caught and, consequently, most online anti-piracy investigations invariably reached a dead end.
The police have attempted to discover the real-world identities of online film pirates by tracking their e-commerce accounts. They have also sought to track the e-payment routes to the pirate sites. They have only achieved limited success so far.
Rampant piracy, fuelled by the internet, has undermined the economics of the Malayalam film industry. It has dissuaded producers from taking on risky and innovative projects and forced them to stick to staid formulas.
