There goes the black!

Inspiring and interesting it is to know that the BMC is taking special measures to curtail the piracy, which has been sucking substantial amount of revenues from the Indian film industry’s kitty. Annually, Bollywood is losing out on roughly Rs. 1500 crores, thanks to piracy, is what the reports say. The interesting bit however remains that the ones who are targeted are the pirates on the streets.

The two minute passage from the signal into the Andheri station is more like a walk into the lanes of entertainment, which aren’t confined to the realm of Bollywood, as one gets everything from Hollywood movies, to video games to everything. Go to Bandra, the scene is the same. A small shack on the bridge next to Mahalakshmi station is no different, albeit in its size. A little walk onto the Dr. D.N. Road in South Bombay, and the variety is even better, though the number of stalls is more, and the number of goods per store is lesser. Amongst the ones which I have seen, the one at Andheri is like the wholesale market.

But this isn’t the limit and extent to which the rampant piracy is confined. Google in the details for MP3 downloads, and you get all the latest music labels (The cyber criminals are waiting for the music release of Om Shanti Om and Saawariya). I have friends abroad who download Hindi movies for free and watch them. Most of us, silent perpetrators of this crime can actually afford to buy the music, to watch the films in the theatres, but we don’t. The web-space somehow seems to be out of the ambit of the MPDA (Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act), or maybe nothing about it hasn’t been proposed as of now, or pardon my ignorance, maybe I am unaware of it. In that sense, the web piracy becomes the convenient hidden pathway to the glamourous world, much like the secret pathway to Hogsmeade which Mr. Harry Potter discovers.

Now check this out, a citation from the Times of India today: (An excerpt from an interview with the cop in charge of the Bombay piracy racket)
Q: Who will the action be targeted at under MPDA?
A: Everybody will be booked under this act, from those who manufacture pirated versions to those who circulate it in markets and sell it on footpaths and in shops. At present, the accused are all booked under the Copyright Act and there is no specific section for manufacturers or sellers.

It is indeed great to know, and more so in the interest of the crime, that the buyers are not included under the section. Long live the piracy brigade. So as I had mentioned previously on one of the posts, about black marketing, even this regime to curb piracy is like an ethnic cleansing of the weaker stratum of society.

Can we do something about it? Can the film industry as a whole do something about it? Can’t they have differential ticket prices depending upon the films’ worth, though the exhibition expenses for all the movies is the same? I won’t mind buying a ticket worth Rs. 250 for Madhuri’s upcoming Aaja Nachle, but a suburban multiplex screening Aag at similar price, oh forget it! Why can’t they have cheaper rates for cheaper films, and it is not like the experienced intelligentsia of the industry can’t estimate the films worth beforehand. If Aag were to be screened at a multiplex for say Rs. 50, I’d watch it. If the film looks like it belongs to the 1970s, it may bloody well be priced accordingly.

Let us make the black market legal, or if I may put let every film be sold like a product, and be priced at a price it sells. Then a Neal N Nikki even by Yash Raj shouldn’t be sold like a Chak De! In fact, it is like an insult to Shah Rukh, his star value and his brand worth! (I agree that my previous quote about Aag is contradictory to this one, but then that was an exception!)

So we can actually think about it. So many of the film industry people, are individually, financially better off than most of the junior level employees of the piracy market put together. So why target them at the beginning? Why isn’t some action being taken at the higher level? If the reporters can furnish data about the extent and worth of the market, why can’t the cops curb it at the upper level? Are these raids on the make-shift CD shacks a mere trick to show the aam junta that the cops are aware of the scene, or is it just a tool to report measures in progress to knock down the goons who have been pillaging the industry of its worth?

I distinctly remember this news bit, about a huge shipment of pirated VCDs and DVDs of David Dhawan’s Biwi No. 1 being confiscated, and the proud producer Mr. Vashu Bhagnani hogging the limelight and promoting his film. This film released on 28th May, 1999, amidst the euphoria of the cricket world cup, and still managed to be the biggest box-office grosser of the year. A pirated CD, hiring for about four hours would cost about Rs. 50 to 100 then, with a refundable deposit, of around Rs. 200. Today I can buy a pirated CD for about Rs. 30.

From then and now, the film industry is getting more and more organized, the exhibition of movies is getting better with the multiplex revolution, the ticket prices have soared sky high, the revenues have increased manifold, the marketing budgets have become an essential cost and with in-film placements the makers are fast making the marketing department a profit centre, the proliferation of the news channels have provided more avenues to disseminate information about such illegal pirates, the film prints are getting encrypted, digital cinema is booming, FICCI is conducting an annual survey on the industry and is showing the industry’s worth increasing, and further increasing. But, with regards to this problem, we are still there…we are stuck with the sab chalta hai attitude.

A website informs me that the marketing budget for Saawariya is estimated to be Rs. 20 crores. I genuinely wonder what the film will do to spend this amount; perhaps buy one hour slots on all important channels, daily; buy every hoarding in Bombay; and God knows what. From my little knowledge of the industry, a film like Hum Tum can be made in about Rs. 8-10 crores, including the foreign locales, decent stars, good crew, and production values which make the film look like it is at the cusp of being realistic and lavish. So then where on earth will Rs. 20 crores be spent, on marketing only becomes the million dollar question! If I may suggest, even if 10% of the marketing costs is used, as an experiment to screen the movie at subsidized rates, piracy can be dealt with, and a savvy audience member, especially the one who yearns for quality cinema, will then prefer watching a Saawariya for less, before he watches the year’s most awaited release Om Shanti Om, at an extra premium cost, since the two release on the same day of Diwali on November 9th!

With the corporatisation of the industry, maybe the makers can take over provision of high quality entertainment at subsidized rates, as yet another Corporate Social Responsibility endeavour, as this will help them serve and entertain the society on several levels!