Ask for DVDs of new Tamil movies at a few shops in Richie Street and Burma Bazaar, and the response would be cautious. “We have old English movies but not new Tamil movies. Would you like to buy old music CDs instead?” a shopkeeper asks.
DVDs of new films, including those of Tamil movies which released just a week back aren’t, however, hard to find. They’re simply hidden from plain sight.
The shops that stock ask the customer to present a list of the movies printed on a laminated piece of paper. Once the movie is requested, the shop owner sends his assistant outside to go and get the DVD from where it is stored, generally in a neighbouring shop to avoid detection. The pirated DVDs also carry the stamp of the illegal website that the print has been taken from as well.
Wrapping it carefully in brown paper and then black plastic, he instructs, “Please keep it inside your bag and then step out.”
Almost a month ago, the video piracy cell of Tamil Nadu police nabbed middle-aged Vetrichelvan, a first-time offender, for mass production of pirated video discs of new Tamil films. The police said that they were surprised about the extent to which he had gone to conceal his activities and the scale of his operation.
“Usually, the CDs are hidden either in a secret compartment above the false ceiling or in their scooters which they park a short distance from their shop. This guy had an entire room, whose door was concealed behind a cupboard. One of our officers discovered it after following an AC duct coming out of nowhere. He was running a massive operation, writing thousands of DVDs using several writers at the same time,” said the police official who arrested him.
He says that the pirates are making it tougher for the police as they are constantly evolving. “These days, they shut down their DVD shop and put up something else as a front. They have a juvenile manning the shop and sell the pirated copy on a pen drive. It is getting more complicated by the day,” said the Inspector.
The police said that the menace of piracy is not perpetuated through selling of video discs any more but through illegal streaming sites and downloads. “What we have seen in the last few years is that fewer people are buying video discs. Many have left and started doing something else. Why would you buy a disc for Rs. 40 or Rs. 50 when you can download it for free?” he asks.
In smaller towns, there is also the problem of local channels that keep telecasting new moviesusing pirated DVDs. This, along with movies being shown illegally in buses which ply from the city to the neighbouring areas, has been a thorn in the flesh for the anti-piracy cops.
The general sense one gets from speaking to the police who have been keeping the tabs on the pirates is that the film industry and the cops are playing a game that is going to slowly wear them out.
“The film industry is going to have to take a hard look at the way business is being conducted. We can arrest these guys and file cases against them but how will you stop pirates uploading torrent files from foreign nations?” a police official asked.
