Despite preventive action by Producer S Thanu, a pirated version of Kabali wound up on the Internet on the day of its release. A two minute video clip of the film’s introduction scene did the rounds on several social messenger platforms on July 20. Following this, a lawyer for the producer appeared again before Judge Kirubakaran yesterday and informed him of the developments. After hearing the case, Judge Kirubakaran questioned the Central Government’s inability to follow through on the court’s directive and aid in combating piracy. The case will be heard on July 26, when a complete list of all the websites that hosted the pirated version of Kabali will be provided to the Court.
A representative for Thanu told Silverscreen.in, “Only around fifty percent of the sites we’d named in the list followed the court’s order. But even that was for a short while. Since Kabali’s release, new websites have cropped up just to host the pirated links. At 6:20 AM on Friday, even before the first show in Chennai was over, the film was leaked onto the internet. We faced the same issue with Theri and Kanithan, and suffered huge losses. We thought we could make a difference by the order, but it looks like what progress we made is little.”
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A week ago, producer Thanu had moved the High Court in a bid to prevent and combat illegal downloads and piracy of the film. The High Court subsequently restrained 169 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including 225 websites, from allowing Kabali to be downloaded. A notice was sent to all 175 entities from S Thanu under the instruction of the Court. Furthermore, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was ordered to block websites hosting illegal copies of the film.
Kabali starring Rajinikanth and Radhika Apte released to mixed reviews on Friday (July 22). Directed by Pa Ranjith, the film made over Rs. 200 crore in pre-release business alone.