Madras HC Orders Blocking Of More Than 13,000 Websites To Prevent Piracy Of Vikram Vedha Remake

The Madras High Court on September 30 passed an interim injunction to block attempts of piracy after Saif and Hrithik starrer Vikram Vedha was released across 4007 screens in India. 

Vikram Vedha producers worried about loss in business

While the Hindi dubbed version of the original movie is freely available online, making available infringing and illegal copies of the Hindi version becomes a big threat to the business prospects of the keenly awaited action drama.

Echoing a similar sentiment, the co-producer of the film Reliance Entertainment argued before the court about the prospects of losing a large chunk of revenue if the pirate versions of the movie are not taken down.

Recognising the magnitude of business loss that can accrue to the producers of the movie in the given case, the court ordered the blocking of more than 13000 websites.

Did piracy make a dent in Vikram Vedha's run at the box office?

As per industry projections, the film was expected to take an opening of around 18 to 20 crores. However, to the surprise of Bollywood trade analysts, the film was only able to add around 11 crores in terms of collections on the first day. Although the increase in the collections was steady over the weekend due to positive word of mouth, the incremental numbers cannot be said to be eye-popping.  While films become available in a matter of hours after release online and in telegram groups, the presence of the Hindi dubbed version of an already cult film along with the audience's preference for declining in remakes could have also been contributing factors in the whole scheme of things. 

Court orders not enough

The dark shadow of content piracy hovering over Bollywood films is not new. Technology and the convenience of watching your favourite stars at the click of a button have become part of the millennial lifestyle courtesy of the sheer options available on the ott platforms today.  While court orders in such cases are a regular feature in content piracy cases, the number of arrests happening in such cases is far too low. Also, by the time the websites are blocked under a court order, the damage has already been done. 

As Anil Lale, General Counsel, Viacom says, the fight against Piracy has to be on a real-time basis along with the necessary administrative support from the government and police authorities, Lale suggests the introduction of stringent punishments under laws and making the offence of content piracy a non-bailable offence could act as a deterrent.

Another school of thought emphasises on beating technology with technology. Many believe that the encryption of the content should be such that hackers are unable to bypass the same.

While technology and law, both, need to evolve, the choice lies with the consumer of such content. Pirated content spreads like wildfire because demand exists if content consumption can change after the advent of OTT plat\forms, can we also make watching pirated content a dated concept just like watching content on cable networks is paling in comparison with the OTT space?