Producer S Thanu has been relentless in his fight against the websites that leaked Kabali online. Having acquired a reputation for inaction as the President of the Producer’s Council, Thanu jumped on the anti-piracy bandwagon only when his film Kabali was about to release. Many preventive measures were put in place, including a ban on all websites that offered pirated versions of films.
Despite all this, Kabali leaked online on the day of its release, 22 July. A petition was filed shortly in the Madras High Court to take action against these sites.
The case came up for hearing again, recently. Judge P Kripakaran, who presided over this case, observed that the piracy problem seemed rampant only in Tamil Nadu. “Neighbouring states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have been effectively combating this issue. The effective measures put in place ensured the success of even an expensive movie like Baahubali. The theatres also have to take initiatives to fight piracy. Creating a team of experts to tackle piracy, has been effective in other states. It must be implemented here too.“
Judge Kripakaran also ordered the Central Government, private Internet Service Providers, and Thanu to work with experts in the anti-piracy field and come up with a comprehensive report soon.
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Further, Judge Kripakaran pointed out that since Kabali had grossed over Rs. 100 crores, it was required under company law to assign a portion of its profits towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In response, Thanu’s lawyer assured the judge that a certain portion of the profit had already been used by Thanu’s V Creations towards charity work. He also added that more such work will be undertaken by the company in the future.
Thanu’s spokesperson told Silverscreen, that all possible measures would be taken to come up with fail-proof anti-piracy measures.
The next hearing for the case has been scheduled for 16 August.