Vivek Oberoi's SOS call to the ministry to save Great Grand Masti has paved the way for a clearance cell to plug online leaks
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 8, 2016)


On July 5, two weeks ahead of its nationwide release on July 22, a pirated copy of Indra Kumar's adult comedy, Great Grand Masti, featuring Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani, was leaked online and shared across 1000 sites over four days. The original leak was hosted on several peer-to-peer sharing websites like Kickass Torrents and The Pirate Bay. According to the cyber crime cell, the leaked copy had a 'Censor Copy' watermark. The implication was that it was created from a sample copy sent by the producers to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for review.

While the submissions of all films were immediately digitised via the Digital Cinema Package (DCP) by CBFC chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani (Mirror, August 11), piracy remains rampant issue in one of the highest tax-paying industries in the country.

"I remember leaving a message to Information & Broadcasting Minister of State, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, at 10.30 pm on the day of the leak. He returned my call at midnight and asked me to fly down to Delhi the next morning," recalls Vivek Oberoi, who accompanied by Jitendra and Ashok Thackeria and Balaji Telefilms' Group CEO, Sameer Nair, met the minister. Delhi Commissioner of Police, Alok Kumar Verma who was present at the meeting, and Law & Justice, Information Technology Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, a close friend of Vivek's, also came to their rescue. "Rathore is the most pro-active minister I've met. He asked us to get a judicial order from the Bombay High Court for a blanket ban on the online sites." Back in Mumbai they roped in lawyer Hitesh Jain, ALMT Legal, as consultant and advisor.

Two breakthrough orders were passed. The first was a "John Doe order" under which the police arrested the people responsible, even though there was no specific pirate named. The second was an order in an "intermediary suit" according to which all Internet Service Providers (ISP - BSNL, MTNL, Airtel, Vodafone) were asked to ensure that the film was not supplied using their networks.

The piracy was stopped in its tracks but the adult comedy had already been downloaded over a hundred thousand times by then and losses mounted to crores. "The laws couldn't help us but it has helped several producers since," asserts Vivek informing that a single-window clearance format is being worked upon by Rathore, film producers and Deputy Commissioner of Cyber Crime, Sachin Patil, whereby a single authority can be approached in such cases. "Once a complaint is made to this new cell, a pan-India order to all ISPs will be sent out and the pirated copy will be blocked, a fine imposed and the pirate arrested. It's still in the nascent stages but it's the most effective measure to be imposed yet."

When Rustom released on August 12, the film began to appear online in its first weekend. The leaks were nipped in the bud with a judicial order and a Rs 3 lakh fine. "Action is important within 24 hours because piracy, like cancer, spreads fast and keeps multiplying," Vivek cautions. "According to the new order, not just the pirated CDs and DVDs will be confiscated but also the machines used for the copying the film to discs and pen-drives. This helped Rustom."

Sajid Nadiadwala also made a one-of-a-kind decision to stop the piracy by not releasing Dishoom in the single screens from where it could be duplicated. Vivek informs that a pirated copy of Great Grand Masti was being screened in one such theatre and tickets had been sold. "I contacted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and within 30 minutes a police raid was conducted and the theatre owners arrested. The single-window system for antipiracy will also take into account these piracy hubs and block them permanently," he asserts.