Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Video pirates vanishing

Almost all video/CD parlours in the city have closed down since their business was thriving mainly on pirated copies of movies. As there are no takers for pirated CDs of latest movies, the CD-writing concept has also become defunct, says S. Vijay Kumar.

EVEN BEFORE the police started enforcing the amended laws to curb video piracy, the clandestine activities of pirates, flourishing in the city for decades, have suddenly vanished.

Video parlours and compact disc shops downed shutters hours after the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Forest Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-Grabbers Act, 1982, was amended enabling the law enforcing agencies to detain video pirates.

Thousands of youth involved in the CD writing business at undisclosed centres have closed down. Omni bus/van operators have switched off television sets since the amendments to the Tamil Nadu Exhibition of Films on Television Screen through Video Cassette Recorders and Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1984, now provides for punishment with an imprisonment up to two years or fine which shall not be less than Rs. one lakh but which may be extended to Rs.five lakhs or with both.

Almost all video/CD parlours in the city have closed down since their business was thriving mainly on pirated copies of movies. As there are no takers for pirated CDs of latest movies, the CD-writing concept has also become defunct.

According to the Inspector (Video Piracy), M.S.M. Abdul Rahim, Madurai was the gateway for the circulation of pirated CDs to the southern districts. The Meenakshi and Pondy Bazaar localities, which were notorious for the sale of such CDs, had quit business. "We have plugged all gaps. The video pirates know that the new law is severe and habitual offenders can also been detained under the Goondas Act," he says.

Though the "master prints" of pirated versions originally came from Chennai, hundreds of illegal operators made copies of such CDs. "It just needs a computer, CD-writer and a few gadgets to make these pirated CDs. The cost of production per CD would be sometimes less than Rs. 15," Mr. Rahim says, adding that an elaborate plan had been chalked out to prevent the video piracy industry from resurfacing.

Interestingly, the number of movie-goers is said to have gone up since early October. The collection for movies such as `Vasool Raja', `Gajendra' and `M. Kumaran son of Mahalakshmi', have gone up after a brief slump, say cinema theatre owners.

However, police officials say video piracy cannot sustain without the connivance of some persons in the film industry. "The original print has to either come from the movie halls or laboratories. Some producers even sell copyrights to foreign dealers to double their profits. However, it boomerangs since the pirated versions land in the State hours later," says another police official.

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