Kollywood move on DVD and VCD rights

Finding that anti-piracy measures have not yielded desired results, Tamil industry leaders are seriously considering pro-active steps in this regard.

Talks are being held among various film bodies in Kollywood to consider proposals to release the DVD and VCD rights within three months of a film's release as in Bollywood.

Rama Narayanan, president of the Tamil Film Producers Council, says that distributors, who pay Rs 10 lakh for a film can now pay Rs 8 lakh and producers, can recover the rest by way of DVD rights.

The matter is proposed to be discussed threadbare at a general body meeting of the Tamil Film Producers Council to be held later this month.

At present there is a ban on selling DVD and VCD rights for a period of one year (for small films) to three years (for big budget movies).

Despite the ban pirated DVDs of most films are freely available in the market as soon as the films hit the screens. For instance, pirated copies of the DVD of Kamal-starrer ""Dasavatharam" were already in the market before the release of the film in spite of stringent anti-piracy measures in place. When "Subramaniapuram" which was made on a shoe-string budget, became a surprise hit, the demand for copies of the pirated DVD has registered a big jump.

The piracy is causing the industry an enormous loss, ranging from 20 to 60 per cent. Among those who support the move to release DVD and VCD rights within three months of release of films are Alaska Ravindar, a leading producer and distributor, and A.Srinivasan, director of Pyramid Saimira.

Ravichadran is quoted as saying, "If we have simultaneous releases in B and C centres and also have official DVD releases in three months time, the industry will cut its losses."

Srinivasan is of the view that it is necessary for the industry to come up with a formula to curb piracy. "Bollyood has shown us the way," he adds.

Film buffs also welcome the move. They feel official DVDs will solve a lot of problems for everyone.