Sunday, May 15, 2005
Film Piracy
This weekend Sridhar and I were planning to get together and watch a movie I had recommended. There was one slight problem-Sridhar does not watch pirated DVDs-and so the plan got cancelled. Being the super movie fanatic that I am, I too have my own moral code of conduct, which I have to satisfy before I watch/buy pirated movies.
I watch/buy pirated stuff only if I have seen the movie in the theater already or in the case of movies like Fahrenheit 9/11 which never get released here. When I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 the original was not available here. So am I supposed to wait for two years until the original gets released here? I saw Kakha…Kakha about five times in the theatre, after which my sister Nivi(who also saw the movie several times in the theatre) bought the pirated VCD.I think Michael Moore and Gautam Mennon would be flattered rather than angry with us in this situation.
So while I respect Sridhar’s extreme stance (he has configured his DVD player in such a way that pirated movies will not play on it!!!), I don’t see any logic in following it myself. For instance Ray’s Appu Trilogy is not available here. In that case it is perfectly alright to watch a recorded or pirated version rather than not watching the movie at all or waiting for someone from the U.S to send me the movie. There are rare exceptions when I have violated my self styled code of conduct. I never saw Autograph in the theatre, because when it was released I was studying for my university exams, and by the time my exams were over everybody I knew had seen it, and I did not want to go for the movie alone. The bottom line is that I felt very bad about this.
Anyone who doubts what an avid supporter of cinema I am can have a look at my movie ticket collection. Like some people collect stamps and coins I have been collecting the tickets of all the movies I have seen in theatres for the last almost one year. And believe me there are a loooooooot of tickets in that collection. So my point is as long as piracy is a last resort moviemakers would be flattered rather than angry. The final motive of every good filmmaker, I am quite certain is that his/her work must be seen and appreciated.
And yet why has Sridhar succeeded in making me feel guilty?
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7 comments:
i think its perfectly alright and legal to watch movie in pirated VCDs, dont really understand the hype created about the issue and the ethical reasoning. if people choose to watch a movie on pirated VCD, where around 30 minutes of the movie is cut there is a reason they choose to watch the movie with 30 minutes cut than the full version in the theatre, there is a message for the entire film industry which should be looked at. the consumed is giving feedback which is being ignored by the industry. okie this si gettin too long i shal post my opinion on this issue in my blog and claim that it is ethically moral to watch movies in the pirated format especially tamil movies,
"it is ethically moral to watch movies in the pirated format especially tamil movies,"...what do u mean by "especially tamil movies"as if Tamil films are inferior species?u need 2 seriously re-examine ur stance man...if all follow what u said the producers will go bankrupt and no movies will be made!
filmmakers just use video piracy as an excuse for their films failing. they refuse to look at why people choose this mode, rather than introspectoin, they look for a scape goat.
Forget what the filmmakers do. Let the public introspect first. Video piracy is theft.
My question is, is there a rule that a bad movie can be stolen? Will you steal a poor quality refrigerator from Viveks or a badly stitched Arrow shirt from Spencers because it's not 'worth' buying? Then why bring the 'quality' issue into VCD piracy?
In the process of replying to Srinivasan, I forgot to answer Siddarth, perhaps because we have discussed it enough.
I believe strongly that this 'it's okay to do this' kind of attitude is what prevents our nation emerge out of the stagnation. It's okay to litter our roads coz everyone is doing it and it's okay to cross red signals coz not much of damage is done anyways.
As educated and concerned individuals, we have higher responsibility to show the way. In the process we might undergo certain discomforts such as not being able to watch a pirated movie or having to wait an empty red signal where everyone is rushing past. But that's precisely how we send a message, make others feel guilty and make them toe the line.
Watching a pirated DVD/VCD is almost the same as ripping off music from the net for free,something we've done so often and continue to do.But did you ever feel guilty about it?I don't think so.At least now there seems to be some agreement betw the artists and the public so it's not such an issue anymore.I guess it's ok to watch a pirated movie once in a while but not all the time.I saw Sideways in a pirated dvd but it didnt bother me.I agree there has to be some regulation in the piracy trade or the industry's dead.and there's no need to feel so guilty as long as you don't jump the line too often.
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