A 2009 film industry survey found that 100% Hindi titles were illegally recorded on video cameras and were available online or in illegitimate street markets within 2.15 days of the film?s release. With the opening weekend crucial to how a film performs at the box office, any loss due to piracy is hitting the business directly. The Motion Picture Association of America-India (MPAA-India) was set up precisely to fight that?film piracy. As Uday Singh, former CEO, PVR Pictures, joins MPAA-India as its new managing director, he tells FE of the difficulties in fighting film piracy in the largest film industry in the world. He says it?s imperative to go for the ?source?, armed with laws and enforcements, and that just cleaning up the streets won?t do. Excerpts:
How big is the problem of piracy in the Indian film industry?
It?s a humongous problem, and leads to losses of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs. There are many sources of piracy. We have to find the source of the problem, and that?s not easy because there are multiple sources. When a film releases, it?s out on the streets or downloaded illegally in two days. Films are illegally camcorded at movie halls and pirated. The opening weekend is crucial to a film?s business and piracy is shaving off a chunk of the film?s profits.
At MPAA-India, how do you plan to tackle it?
We are constantly looking at ways to protect content. With major production houses like Eros, Reliance and UTV joining the movement, we are looking at various anti-piracy measures to launch a multi-pronged attack.
Have you gained any success in your drive against piracy?
There have been some gains. We have cleaned up the street time and again, raided titles etc. But there?s no point in just cleaning up the street, we have to go after the source. There are legislative ways to look at the problem; an ?anti-camcording law? should help. We are discussing with the government ways and means of legislating this. We need help to enforce and protect content.
But even as we speak, newer technologies are evolving which can help piracy.
Well, we can?t bullet-proof ourselves totally. Everyday there are newer technologies, new challenges, but we need to have a sustained campaign to curb piracy.
Is the industry really serious about curbing piracy?
The industry used to be a fragmented place with individual producers etc. A sustained programme against piracy could only take off after the studios came into being. They all have huge slates of releases and piracy is really eating into revenues. It?s in their interest to curb piracy.
What are your plans for 2011?
The idea is to integrate with local industry. We also want to lobby harder for legislation. It?s a non-stop fight and we need as many allies as possible. In content protection issues, we need to build consumer awareness that it?s wrong, a crime, to buy pirated films. We have to drive home the point that somebody?s labour of love can?t be stolen. We need to be serious about tackling piracy. Overall, it hasn?t been given the importance it should have been given.