In an effort to curb video piracy, actor-cum-politician R. Sarath Kumar took to Twitter and filed an official complaint. Soon, the CB-CID listed the steps taken to curb video piracy in the State, and its success rate.
On Monday, the twitter world was abuzz with tweets from Sarath Kumar, president of the South Indian Artist Association and of the Akila Indiya Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK), on the piracy issue.
“ >@realsarathkumar : In the past I have personally raided, exposed the culprits. Abstinence of the people not to watch pirated movies is important to stop it,” said one of his tweets. “We do not have to take a procession for that, we have done that many times in the past, we have to create awareness on video piracy,” said another tweet.
In the past I have personally raided , exposed the culprits, abstinence of the people not to watch pirated movies is important to stop it
— R Sarath Kumar (@realsarathkumar) >November 17, 2014We do not have to take a procession for that, we have done that many times in the past, we have to create awareness on video piracy
— R Sarath Kumar (@realsarathkumar) >November 17, 2014He also met the Additional Director-General of Police, CB-CID, and submitted a petition, on behalf of the association, seeking action against those involved in piracy and to curtail illegal telecasting of movies through the cable TV.
After the meeting, the CB-CID said in a release that six cases were filed against cinema hall owners and operators for illegally recording movies. Two cases each were filed in Madurai and Virudhunagar and one each in Dindugul and Coimbatore. Around 4,987 cases were registered up to October this year for selling pirated DVDs, compared with 2,664 cases during 2013 and 2,621 cases during 2012. This apart, 15 notorious video pirates were detained under the Goondas Act, including four in the last two months.
Besides, 26 cases were registered against the cable TV operators who telecast the pirated version of the newly released Tamil movies in three months. The cable TV operators were warned that severe action would be taken against them if they indulged in the act.
A film industry source estimates that video piracy eats into more than 35 per cent of a film’s revenue.
The DVD piracy market in India is pegged at Rs. 100 crore and 40 per cent of it comes from south Indian movies. But DVD sellers in the State say their businesses are already dead owing to Internet and other online websites.
“Today, not many want to buy DVD. They all download films free. We have told our traders not to sell new movies for 90 days at least. And, we do keep a tab on them,” said K.A. Shahul Hameed, secretary of the Burma Tamilhar Marumalarchi Sangam, an association that monitors Burma Bazaar.
