MUMBAI: Even as the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) chairman and CEO Dan Glickman waxed eloquent recently on the Indian film industry’s initiatives to curb piracy, last week’s Bollywood releases Jab We Met directed by Imtiaz Ali and No Smoking directed by Anurag Kashyap are available to watch for free online. And mind you, this is superior quality stuff we’re talking.

While we’re not naming names here so as to not promote the illegal website, the fact is that it’s happening and there’s no stopping it. The Great Britain registered domain name, where the movies are available, has been active since 2004; whereas the IP (internet protocol) address is located in the US. This is yet another photographs and video sharing website a la YouTube.com, where users can upload for free and of course watch them for free too.

Ranked amongst the top 2000 websites on the World Wide Web, this illegal website has got most traffic coming from the US, the UK and France amongst others. What’s more, these movies have been online the very day of their theatrical release. Apart from Jab We Met and No Smoking, most newly released movies like Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Speed and even Bal Ganesh are available here to see.

While one can’t really blame the popularity of these websites as many people prefer to watch movies online for free juxtaposed to paying Rs 200, $ 3- 5, AED 30 or £7 in theatres to watch the same.

And this is just ONE of at least 10 websites that have these new movies streaming for free. While Bollywood is striving each week to give hits and super-hits this year, one can imagine the total revenues lost to the producers via these websites. Glickman said that the film industry lost an estimated $186 million to piracy in India and over $170 million of that loss was incurred by Indian film producers.

Recently the British police brought the shutters down on a popular website called tv-links.co.uk, which showcased illegal versions of movies and TV shows.

While countries like the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, etc have taken a firm stand against camcording in theatres by introducing an anti-camcording law and other initiatives like Operation Tripod and Operation Octopus, the Indian copyright law is still in the process of being framed. The Indian information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had revealed earlier this year that the new copyright law would be in place by the end of the year. However, according to information available with Businessofcinema.com, the final draft of the new law is likely to get delayed to next year.

When Businessofcinema.com had contacted Motion Pictures Association (MPA) India head of operations Anil Nayer with the issue of newly released Hindi movies being streamed illegally online, Nayer had said, “We really can’t be of help since the content owners should be the ones who should be worried and should look to initiate the action. We would be happy to help and work with the local industry but obviously the content owner has to seek our assistance.”

Are Indian producers listening?

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Indian producers losing $170 million to piracy