subject: Will the Future See Bollywood Movies Streaming Online? [print this page] Will the Future See Bollywood Movies Streaming Online?
Since a decade piracy has been the biggest threat to Bollywood films and music. It has almost become an economic problem as it cannot be dissolved completely. Over the years piracy has given Bollywood film-makers nightmares. Approximately, Rs 3,000-crore Bollywood film industry loses nearly Rs 1,000 crore annually to piracy, according to studies by the Television and Film Producers Guild of India and Yes Bank.
The in-house home video market was the most terribly shammed, losing Rs 490 crore to piracy in 2004, according to the Yes Bank report. This is a momentous market for producers as it caters revenue long after a film's release. Piracy involves copying the movie in violation of intellectual property rights and reproducing it illegally for sale at cheap rates. Legislation to counter piracy in India includes the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, and the Copyright Act, 1994. India is also a participant to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Universal Copyright Convention.
We have all seen how nowadays movies are streamed online on broadcasting websites like YouTube, Metacafe, Dailymotion etc. Now at this point of time when piracy is at its peak and downloading music is rambling, Vashu and Jackky Bhagnani have designed a ground-breaking concept to control the crime. Starring Jackky and Riteish Deshmukh in crucial roles along with Arshad Warsi and newcomer Puja Gupta, F.A.L.T.U. is seeing its makers release music on the internet. Well, it is the first of its kind that a Bollywood movie has released its audio over the internet for people to stream. The filmmakers say that the generation is totally dependent on the internet and is using the medium at full swing. People nowadays believe is downloading music and movie from the internet rather than spending time and money outside to buy a cd.
Its high time people get to streaming movies on the internet. The day is not far off when we see filmmakers releasing their movie online and with the looks of things to come it doesn't seem a bad idea after all.
Even previously filmmakers have suffered heavy losses due to piracy and there is very little you can do about it. Films like Tera Kya Hoga Johnny was released on the internet much before it the filmmakers liking. This hampers the cost of the movie as well as makes the movie vulnerable.
India is among the world's most ardent movie markets, for both Bollywood as well as Hollywood films. It is also one of the biggest markets for pirated movie DVDs and music CDs. And piracy isn't narrowed to Bollywood or even to India. Bollywood films are enjoying an unparalleled burst of popularity overseas and are fabricated in the United States, just as much as Hollywood films are pirated in India.
So Bollywood and Hollywood executives are trying to put an end to the rampant piracy. The Motion Picture Association of America has amalgamated with 7 of the major Bollywood production studios including YashRaj Films, UTV Films and Reliance Big Entertainment. So hopefully, either we will get to see streaming Bollywood movies online or zero piracy in near future.
