Most Hindi and regional films succumb to piracy before release while foreign films are largely pirated in a movie theatre. South Indian movies, mainly Telugu and Tamil films, to a great extent fall prey to illegal trade of pirated CDs from South East Asia.?The film print leakages in case of Hindi and regional movies is mostly attributed to theft that takes place between processing labs to theatres and from theatre to screening, according to the E&Y and USIBC report. This is the primary channel of piracy for Hindi and regional movies where ?Tele-Cine? machines are reportedly used which convert the movie prints into digital formats and then produce master copies of the concerned movie print.
The piracy of foreign films is largely attributed to camera print piracy, which entails prints being made out of filming the movie using the amateur camera in a movie theatre. Illegal imports is the third mode of piracy that affects both the regional film as well as the foreign film market to some extent.
Different release dates in theatre and home entertainment in different countries?provide opportunity to?pirates?in obtaining movies from other countries and distribute it here. Asha Swarup, secretary, information and broadcasting ministry said that releasing the movie on different platforms simultaneously would help curb piracy. Rajjat Barjatya, director, Rajshri Films?cited his experience of releasing his film Vivaah on the Internet simultaneously with the theatre release,?which?helped him curb piracy to a large extent.
But Yash Chopra, producer, Yashraj Films, was of the view that this is a personal choice of the producer as?a simultaneous release may mean forgoing a large chunk of box-office revenue.