Kabali producers declare war against online piracy

Chennai, Jul 15: Superstar Rajinikanth is sure to take on baddies in his Kabali, slated for release on July 22. While the film release is still one week away, the film's producer S Thanu has already declared war on film pirates and vowed to finish off the thriving black market for films, music and all forms of creative art.

Thanu has moved the Madras high court to stop illegal download of the film by about 225 rogue websites and countless unknown sites. Justice N Kirubakaran before whom the matter came up for hearing on Thursday, has said he would pass orders on Friday. He also asked state and central government counsel to file their responses.

When the matter was taken up, senior advocate Vijay Narayan told the court that there were 169 licensed Internet Service Providers (ISP) in India, and 70% of their income comes from illegal downloads done in complete violation of the terms and conditions of licence. Ruing that the government had been turning a blind eye to the scam, Vijay Narayan said government was losing revenues to the tune of several hundred crores of rupees every year.

Kabali is to be released on more than 4,000 screens all over the world in digital format on July 22, he said, adding, "we spent more than a year shooting for the film, and at least 100 crore has been spent, involving more than 3,500 artistes."

He sought an interim order restraining the ISPs from providing access to rogue websites, and said he was prepared to demonstrate live as to how for as little 20 an entire feature film could be downloaded. "By paying 20, within a matter of eight minutes, one entire feature film can be downloaded. And then, sitting in a small room, about 10,000 copies can be made," he said.

Iraivi, aTamil film released on June 3, was available for illegal download the next day, and till June 30 the film had 1.1 lakh downloads, generating 23 lakh revenue for the ISP, Vijay Narayan said.