India - Flying squads will guard theaters to avoid piracy

Tamil Nadu Producer Council and Nadigar Sangam General Secretary Vishal has always been vocal about his fight against piracy. In a new attempt, flying squads comprising the actor’s fan club members will visit screens airing his latest release Thupparivaalan across Tamil Nadu to prevent online piracy. These five member squads are intended as a check for theater prints that are made available online, hours after the official release. These squads will be in action for the first four days of the movie’s release. Piracy is a huge threat for filmmakers as these illegal leaks happen within hours (Vivegam is an example), and sometimes even before release.

Recently the owner of a popular piracy website Tamilgun.in was nabbed, allegedly with help from the actor. Identified as Gowri Shankar, the arrested person was involved in the functioning of 33 websites, including pornography sites. He has been booked under the Information Technology act and is in the custody of the Chennai cyber crime cell. Initial reports suggested that the admin belonged to a popular torrent website Tamilrockers.co, however, it was later clarified that he wasn’t the said admin.