The Karnataka Home Department has formed a joint team comprising CCB and cyber police to crackdown on piracy in Kannada cinema industry.
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said the Kannada film industry had provided employment to lakhs of people besides being the entertainment sector, and added that the Government would take all measures to protect its interests. While earlier there was only discussion in this regard, recently a complain against piracy had been filed by film-makers, he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister also held consultations with various authorities concerned on the issue of amendment to the Karnataka Cinema (Regulation) Act, 1964. “We have decided to amend it in the next legislature session. In this background, we are eliciting the views of various stakeholders,” he said.
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The 1964 legislation needed to be amended now in tune with the present-day requirements, he said. “Earlier, we needed a big room in theatres for housing the projector and several staff to maintain it. But now only two persons can manage 10 screens due to the advent of technology,” the Minister pointed out.
Thursday’s meeting discussed various issues, including the time period for which exemption should be provided from the licence fee for theatres as they had been closed on account of COVID-19, he noted.
Also, the film industry had sought that the licence fee should be revised once in five years against the present system of revising every year, he noted.
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