While the much-hyped Suriya starrer Si 3 hit the screens across the State on Thursday, parts of the movie were illegally screened online in the evening.
Ahead of the movie’s release, websites which illegally stream Tamil movies had announced that they would be streaming the movie on the day of release. Reacting to this, the movie’s producer Gnanavel Raja had spoken out against piracy in an audio release function held in the city last week. Stating that he was contesting in the upcoming producers council elections, Mr. Gnanavel Raja, who runs Studio Green Entertainment had said that he would initiate a crackdown on online piracy.
Many websites however, announced on their social media accounts that prints of the movie were available on their websites on Thursday itself.
In a video message posted on his Twitter page a day before the release, actor Suriya had also appealed to people to watch the movie only in theatres.
Film fraternity worried
With several illegal websites resorting to streaming movies live from theatres directly onto social media on the day of the release using the ‘Facebook Live’ option, members of the film fraternity have expressed their concern about the increasing instances of online piracy which is plaguing the Tamil film industry. Earlier last year, despite measures taken by the makers to curb illegal downloads and streaming of the movie, Superstar Rajinikanth’s Kabali too was uploaded online illegally on the day of release.
