Video piracy, in simple terms, means illegally copying copyrighted new release films and then selling them at significantly lower prices in the ‘grey’ market. And what is a ‘grey market’? Well, it is a market where the copied film is passed to public viewing through ‘unauthorized’ and illegal channels! In short, video piracy is a direct theft of films produced painstakingly by producers pumping enormous money!
Lambasting video piracy, eminent filmmaker the late Raj Kapoor had referred to video piracy as a monster! Annoyed by the attack of illegal video piracy, Raj Kapoor said, “Video piracy is a ‘monster,’ and the monster is killing the film business across the world. The film fraternity across the globe must unite and must fight against the ‘Monster’!
The Piracy Of Films
The Indian film industry was attacked by video piracy in the early ’80s when television became a household feature in India. The craze of color TV to watch Asian Games brought down the price of black and white TV. It was during this period that suddenly there was a boom of TV in India. The rates of black and white TV sets came down so drastically that even the labor class people bought the TV sets, and television became the cheapest form of entertainment for the common man. According to reports, by 1989, one-third of the population in urban cities of India had a TV. It was a significant penetration of TV in urban India.
The Arrival Of VCRs
A new technology called the Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) invaded India to bank upon the enormous population. A VCR is an electronic device that records audio/video on magnetic videocassette tapes. These video cassette tapes record new release films and distribute them in the grey market. With the easy availability of video cassettes, soon video libraries and video parlors started mushrooming in the country. These video parlors showed the latest pirated prints of Bollywood movies at cheaper rates. In the ’80s, the cinema tickets in single-screen theatres in the suburbs, ranged between minimum Rs 25/- or 40/-, while the video parlors showed new films for just Rs 5/- or Rs 10/-
However, with police raiding the video parlors, video piracy adopted a new style of business. Video libraries started the business of renting VCRs and videocassettes to citizens on an hourly basis. Citizens paid a small amount ranging between Rs 50/- and Rs 100/- and hired the VCR at their homes and watched movies all night! By 1989, around 30,000 videocassette libraries had come up in India, and everybody sold the latest pirated films.
VCR’s Contribution In Spreading Piracy
A single VCR, connected to a TV set, catered to several viewers per screening; it was a lucrative business. Hence it opened many unauthorized video parlors, set up in dingy slums and interiors of the cities to avoid the police net. By 1992 video parlors were widespread even in the rural areas of the country, thus eating a large chunk of the film producers’ business. Though the Motion Picture Producers Association of India had been fighting tooth and nail to stop video piracy, piracy continues to bleed the Indian film economy to as much as $2.8 billion annually!
The film producers are in a fix but continue the business, as Bollywood believes in the policy—the show must go on!
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