Piracy: Bane or Boon?
iView Author: Vishal Chaturvedi (Bangalore, India)
Email: vishalc2005[at]gmail[dot]com
Piracy: Bane or boon?
Thanks to UTV world movies, we now have legal access to movies like 400 blows, 13 Tzameti, Red, Blue, White, The lives of others etc. Otherwise, the only way out was the illegal one, which, I’m against, on principle, but principles are set others’ right, to gain an upper hand over an adversary, to win an argument, not for implementing upon ourselves. But, seriously, the only way you can procure non-English/Indian language movies is from the gaudy, swarming shopping holes invariably called AC markets. They have everything laid out for air conditioning, closed areas, little ventilation, no windows, self-closing doors, everything except the air conditioner. So when you enter the place, you can get a whiff of each shopkeeper’s body odor, but you can’t make it out because there are so many of them, and fused with it is the physical ‘exuberance’ of so many shoppers. In this oppressive atmosphere, you have to jostle for space with five or six more maniacs like you, each eying with greed the cardboard boxes in which the Kieslowskis, Bergmanns, and Kubricks are waiting to delight you incessantly with their creative brilliance. The experience of traveling to such a place and then finding a gem like Ashes and Diamonds which you’d been looking for quite some time, is so exhilarating, it gives you goose flesh all over.
I was initiated into this milieu and also into the world of cinema by a close friend, who’d led me to a similar place, except that due to a crackdown on piracy, it appeared much shadier and scarier back then. In Mumbai, constructions appear small externally, when they are viewed against the backdrop of the massive behemoth of the city itself. Once you get in, they seem to expand, and I used to be amazed at the sheer multitude of entities these apparently insignificant little buildings contained within themselves. Little galleries, which seem to be closing in on you, in which you’d have to turn sideways to let someone pass., small offices and shops, barely enough to allow two to sit, no windows and no way in for the sun. The darkness used to be spooky and morbid, be it morning, noon, or night, it was impossible to tell if the weather was cloudy or the sun was shining.
Anyway, I’m digressing; I was led into such a setting and presented with some DVDs suggested by my friend. On that day, I got a fabulous combination of films, something like which I never managed to lay my hand on again. The three colors and Cinema Paradiso in one DVD, color of paradise, il postino, taste of cherry and a few more in another. Understandably, after watching only these two combos I was hooked.
Well, at that point of time, I slightly circumspect about buying the DVDs, arguing about how piracy could destroy the film industry and so on and so forth. But once I caught the fever, I realized that someone who loves cinema and is not considerably rich cannot help but buy pirated movies. If I were looking for a legal DVD of say, a La Strada, or even a 81/2, or even relatively unknown English movies like barry lyndon, would I get it? As far as I’m aware, I won’t be able to find it in any store in India. If I do choose to buy it online, it’d cost me half a grand. Around two years back, Palador and Moser Baer introduced a collection for World Movies; I thought this would be the end of all our problems. But I turned out to be wrong; each DVD was priced at 499, and later reduced to 399. Now, for a movie addict, like us on this forum, the expenditure would turn out to be somewhere in the range of 3000-4000 per month. Maybe its affordable for some, but not for me, all the more so, if I can acquire the same product at 600 a month.
I fail to understand the rationale behind selling a DVD for 400-500. Of course, I don’t know the financial mechanics of the film industry, but considering that a single DVD costs Moser Baer not more than Rs. 15, what sort of profits are they expecting? and when they don’t sell, Moser Baer marketing personnel will reach to the conclusion that India does not have a market for ‘intelligent cinema’.
So, before we criticize piracy, we must understand the reason for piracy. In Hindi movies, there was equally high occurrence of piracy because of the very same reasons. But since the DVD prices have dropped drastically, so has the piracy. And quite simply put, I don’t think the market dynamics justify the kind of pricing that we see in DVDs. As far as supply is concerned, as long as the prices are so high, the sales will remain low from the legal channel, so the perceived demand will remain less, and obviously the supply will not increase. So we can’t expect much of an improvement on the legitimate front.
I’d really like to know if whatever I’ve out in here is wrong. Simply because, the biggest losers here are the film makers and their crews. If there are legal avenues to procure content at logical prices, I’m sure most viewers would prefer to use it. But if the price differential remains so high, this trend is likely to continue and flourish. I, at least, owe my ardor for cinema almost entirely to the illegal business of piracy.
Tags: DVD Market, Piracy, World Cinema
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Jaideep Verma
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D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
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Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
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Amazing article…gutsy one…
But when one learns that such piracy has been reported of being money source for terrorists..then the game changes…
Other point you made is very interesting, volume profit in DVD sales was never targeted..they went after value profit…or looks like they did that..
When the DVD prices were reduced by MB, the quality of films chosen and quality of print reduced drastically, especially in case of old films…VHS to DVD conversion prints are also available in some MB films..
Mind you, the DVD companies are not into charity..they have only one question…
Will Aki’s ‘Man without a Past’ make more profit when sold for Rs.100 or Rs.500? that is question…
If one can come out with a convincing answer that it will make more profit at Rs.100…then we will have a drastic change in pricing..who is going to bell the cat, thats the question???
Well the issue of pricing is a fairly sensitive one as far as World Cinema is concerned.The players involved in the DVD business are basically Palador & NDTV Lumiere.Moser Baer is in a tie-up with Paldor to release their DVD’s.From first hand sources I know the rationale behind the same & though I myself have some doubts on the strategy, I think both the players seem to be having some solid plans for the future.In fact as of now the common audience isnt the TG for these 2 firms, unfortunately due to some reasons I am unable to say anything more- though I know the in depth strategy of these players.
In addition to making DVDs less costly, it would help to also release DVDs soon after the film’s release. Some films come out on DVD so late that people don’t have the patience to wait and end up viewing the film online. Also, some DVDs have NO special features.
Amanda- what you are saying is true.But its not easy to release these DVD’s in India atleast quickly.Palador or NDTV Lumiere has to tie-up with the concerned production/distribution houses abroad, get the required deal in place & then either import the DVD’s or manufacture it in India.So this makes it difficult for a quick release.Again the special features thing is more of a function of getting the content from the concerned producer/distributor.
Production houses need to come up with inventive ways to sell their product. I think they should offer a coupon to buy the dvd at a discount if you see the movie in a theatre. And make sure the dvd has extra features to make it more attractive than online viewing or a pirated dvd.
Or see one movie and get a discount to see the next release.
@Lee: Those are some really cool ideas!
Very good article..and I feel you are absolutely right when you say “before we criticize piracy, we must understand the reason for piracy”…just the last week I had gone to Landmark where I found so many of these films. Only I know how much I had to control myself bcos each one was priced at Rs 499.
btw, I also happen to pass by the bengali DVDs rack which had many Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak films, however even these were so abnormally high priced. Then I moved on to the tamil rack as I have been looking for Anjathey(mainly after reading brangan’s review on it, I don’t understand tamil so I’m looking for the original which I’m hoping will have subtitles) but couldn’t find it however here too I found some old tamil classics very highly priced.
@Lee: nice idea. in fact in the current multiplex vs distributor scenario they can come up with weekly/monthly passes based on some avg amt of say rs.100/- per ticket. tat way, however a movies turns out, good or bad, ppl will watch it bcoz of the pass-factor. it will work out +ve especially bcoz there are more bad movies than good ones. and this ofcourse will curb piracy
@ Sudip- You are right about the Bengali DVD pricing.I dont know what on earth is making them price the DVD’s & VCD’s so highly & making it almost out of reach from a large chunk of audience.I mean there shouldnt be any issues they fact unlike what a Palador or NDTV Lumiere is facing with foreign titles.But as far as South Indian movies go, most of the titles are available at a very low cost ( mostly below 100 .its only 1 or 2 companies which are yet to revise the pricing of the Tamil/Telugu DVD’s otherwise most of them are affordable.
Excellent article.
“I realized that someone who loves cinema and is not considerably rich cannot help but buy pirated movies.”
“I fail to understand the rationale behind selling a DVD for 400-500.” Exact words taken from my mind whenever I visit a DVD store.
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I will tell you how I have solved my problem.
I have become a member of Big Flix (www.bigflix.com), a venture of Big Cinemas/ ADAG. I get original DVDs @ RS 1500/ year for unlimited exchange. In my view that’s a steal for movie lovers who watch at least 4-5 movies per week, including world movies. It satisfies the hunger for viewing. More production houses should follow the Moser Baer route. Imagine Dev D, OLLO & Dil Kabaddi Super DVD is for ONLY Rs 50 !!! This would definitely Kill Piracy!
Ofcourse, if you are a rare movie collector, like any collector you have must be rich and a globe trotter.
Pirated DVDs, though gives an initial excitement of ‘discovering a rare gem’, the excitement soon gets converted into irritation and frustration. Pirated DVDs don’t last unless you buy from Bangkok MBK or some more ‘pro joints’.
I understand there’s another rental service provider called 70mm.com but I dont know how good/ bad they are.
Cheers!
~uh~
I somehow think the Master DVD model which Pirated DVD follows- ‘Multiple movies in one DVD’ format is preferable over single DVD. That would probably bring down the production cost. Instead of Rs 500/ DVD a 3 movies for Rs 700 would be a good bargain. Ofcourse the grouping need to be intelligently done, like Director wise, sequels etc.
@ uh- Cinema Paradiso was the first to start a chain of DVD rental stores and till date it is the best in terms of the collection.But in terms of pricing & cost effectiveness, its definitely Big flix which is the best.70 MM has a much better collection than Big Flix ( especially when it comes to world cinemas as they have a tie up with Palador) and its cheaper than Cinema Paradiso.
I never get my hands to good DVD combos ….. i prefer downloading !! ….. dunno how u skipped mentioning “The Internet” when u talk about piracy ….. i think downloading the movies reduces the risk of “”piracy has been reported of being money source for terrorists”" …. although it takes a little more time to download movies then going to a store for buying/renting them … but for people like me who dnt have sources or resources for good dvds internet is the haven.
I dont understand one thing though ….. piracy mainly hurts the profits of new releases ….. and most the people who read this post are generally the ones who prefer watching new releases in theatres and only the kinda movies that dnt get released here or are hard-to-get-ur-hands-on are the ones for which u go and buy/rent pirated dvds ….. which i dnt think hurts anyones sentiments at all. Recently i read an article in some site in which “a director of a small budget cult movie (dnt remember the name) was thanking to these people who rip movies and place it on the net …… his small movie would not have reached to so many people if it were not for the internet and piracy ….. he hails piracy” …..
I prefer downloading to buying/renting dvds …. mainly for the quality and obviously its easy to search and find on the NET than in a dvd shop…but only for the movies which i cant watch in a theatre.
@ Sethu- Thanks for the info. 70mm is solely online and banned at office. A Big Flix is store just below my house, so it works for me
. Cinema Paradiso, as per my knowledge is strong in down south and just started at Kolkata. They don’t have a store in Mumbai.
*
Searching for it, I stumbled into A GOOD ARTICLE ON DVD CLUBS IN INDIA in today’s Buisnessworld, which is contextual to the post.
Same debate as open source programming versus Microsoft.
uh- Cinema Paradiso is there in all big cities like Mumbai,Delhi,Kolkata,Chennai,Hyderabad,B’lore,Coimbatore,Cochin,Pune etc.
As for 70 MM they do have a few stores also.I’m aware of their stores in places like B’lore & Hyd.
Thanks for the link- will go through the same.
i was a member of 70mm, their collection, in Bangalore around two years back was quite ordinary. Cinema paradiso has the best but it does not offer home delivery and is located in very few areas. I’m going to try bigflix
@Vishal
This question is asked often in this forum and rightly so ,we need a revolutionary method to sell and market movies ,not just in India but the entire world ,DVD’s are overpriced and so are multiplex tickets :( We definitely need a new model and my first candidate would be the Internet ,maybe we can have an Ad based movie where most of the movie cost would be offsetted by the Ads.
I don’t live in India so cut me some slack
But how many people would be buying World cinema in India if it were priced at say 99 rupees? I doubt the numbers would be significantly higher. It’s a niche segment and competitive pricing alone wouldn’t draw a mainstream audience towards these films.
Add the cost of copyright that the manufacturers have to factor in for these titles. I doubt Moser Baer makes as much a profit on a Rs.500 art-house disc than a Rs.99 popular title.
When my daughter was born, that put an end to our theatre going exercise. Tried getting original DVDs, but those took 4 months to release after a theatre release. Therefore took to pirated DVDs. Not only are these priced at Rs. 100, but there are 4 movies in one DVD. Which means that the movies which I wuz not going to watch (2-3 stars reviewed), I get to watch those as well. Yes, I never touch Sadaf’s CDs. These are paki. There are Indian ones I buy.
If you dont want people to buy pirated DVDs, dont faciliate the sale. The buyers are not at fault at all.
great post!
Amazing how even some of the popular blockbusters are not even available on DVDs. Try looking for The Godfather DVD (not VCD) anywhere in India…u’ll get parts II & III but NOT part I! All three parts plus two bonus discs were released as part of “The Coppola Restoration”…in India, Big Home Video released only parts II and III as usual! I ended up getting the entire set from CDWOW.com UK…I must say it’s cheaper that way….got all 5 discs at Rs. 1700 approx; Indian release costs Rs. 499 each!
Anyone ever come across ‘English August’ on DVD?
@ Amborish- Hmmm….I think I saw a Godfather collection @ crossword, but now that you pointed it out, have to reconfirm. I was trying to get hold of Scarface DVD (not VCD). Finally found it in a combo designer pack with American Gangster priced at Rs. 950 or so.
Some of Tarantino & Scorcese Movies like Gangs of New York, Grindhouse, Jackie Brown, After Hours, King of Comedy are never available in white market. For that matter the entire ‘Saw’ series is also not available. These movies are available in the 40 GB pirated Gold discs- 30-35 movies in one disc (Rs 300)! Can anyone beat that ?
In the Middle East, the stuation is worse. An English movie DVD here costs somewhere between INR 800 to 2000. How can we buy ? It seems that the local companies here have to give some huge amounts to gain access of certain approved films to sell in this region !!
I think some company should bring a revolution in pricing ( like MB has bought in Hindi VCD’s )
I went into Rythm House in Mumbai n found out that the dvd’s of Big Cinemas are for no reason extra costly…i desperately wanted to buy Black Friday dvd…but it costs Rs.299/- whereas other mosaer bear dvds cost Rs.99/- n Rs.49/-…i bought DevD, Pyaasa, Ardha Satya, n Kill Bill… all together costing Rs.300/-…i’m in college n get pocket money…n i can’t afford to spend more than this for 3months on dvds…Kudos to the DevD producers to release the DVD as soon as it was pulled down from the theatres n including 2hrs making….Black Friday will hav to wait….
@14,The cult film is The man from Earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth
its not only about pricing.
most important is the director’s vision – what she has to say.
even a 100 Rs copyrighted dvd will be a censored version wherein the film is chopped,mutilated and what eventually comes out is a totally different film without a soul. Try watching any film on palador or ndtv lumiere vis-a-vis the director’s cut.
2nd most important thing is timing of release.
the masters make one film in 6-7 years and who is ready to wait for another 2-3 years before it is legally available on home video.
3rd most important thing is point of sale.it has to made available all across the country and not limited to big cities
4th most important thing is range of choice. thousands of films are made all over the world every year. it is impossible for each and every film to find a legit home video release.nevertheless the range has to be expanded
5th most important thing is special features. many times special features (most important being director’s commentary) are available in say a U.S legit dvd but not in its indian release
6th most important thing is the type of storage.
lots of innovation is required on this front. may be one can go to a store with a usb drive and come out with a legit copy of the film. who wants to hoard discs after discs ?
and after all of the above finally , finally comes pricing !!!