Piracy becomes a big headache for every industry. This year, it is heavily hurting Telugu films as well. Until recently, the pirated print of a movie was coming out after 2 or 3 weeks, but now the HD print is coming out on the 1st weekend, and for a few films, it is arriving on the release day night itself. If we look at it, not just theaters, piracy is destroying OTT revenue too.
Piracy: A big issue for South Indian Cinema
But still, in all industries, including Telugu, everyone is talking about this issue only at the release time of their film but is not taking any stand against piracy as a group. Recently, Telugu films like Game Changer and Thandel were affected by piracy, and even a few noted Malayalam films became the victims of it.
Now a Kerala producer/director/actor, Dileesh Pothan, reveals that the OTT prices are coming down recently because of piracy. It is the main reason for this, and he also mentioned a study that says in Kerala State the highest audiences are watching films via Telegram.
Piracy is the reason for Malayalam movies’ dull OTT Business
The statement definitely makes a lot of sense, as not just theaters but piracy is destroying OTT revenue too. In this way, films are losing both theatrical and non-theatrical business.
If this issue continues like this, the films cannot be sustained in any industry, as it is not limited to any particular industry, and all cinema industries, especially South Indian industries, are suffering a lot because of this problem.
The film industry people should unite and find a permanent solution to this issue. In the Telugu industry, producer Dil Raju said recently that with the support of the government, he will start an initiative against this, and he also mentioned that for this, all producers should come up in support of him.