How Indian movie makers are tackling online piracy

[Len]

After Ranbir Kapoor's big-ticket film gets leaked online within a day of release, producers appoint five tech teams to tackle setback

One of the most anticipated films of the year, Ranbir Kapoor's Sanju fell prey to piracy a day after its release on Friday. As the film's pirated copy went viral on Whatsapp and other platforms, Kapoor's fans made pleas to social media users, requesting them to refrain from watching the illegal version. The producers of the Sanjay Dutt biopic, on their part, immediately sprung into action to curtail the damage.

mid-day has learnt that Fox Star Studios, the distributors of the movie, appointed five special teams on Saturday to ensure that the pirated copies circulating online are monitored and deleted at the earliest. The teams are also said to be in the process of tracing the origin of the leak. Director Rajkumar Hirani and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, meanwhile, have already lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Cell.

A source informs, "While the five teams are trying to pull the film down from various sites, a few download links are still available. In a pre-emptive move, the makers had released the film in the UAE only on Friday, instead of Thursday as is the norm, hoping that it would reduce the chances of it getting leaked from the Middle East. Ideally, the team should have procured a John Doe order, given how rampant piracy has become in this country."

The cyber cell has extended support to the producers on the matter. "The tech team of the cyber cell too is helping the in-house team in curbing the piracy. If the pirated copies exist post Monday, the cell will take the matter into their hands and begin a thorough investigation," adds the source. Hirani and the production house refused to comment on the matter.