Earlier on TeluGlobe, Krishna Chaitanya posted an excellent article on digital piracy and its effect on the Telugu entertainment industry. I was going to add to that but lately, finding time has become a kind of luxury for me.

First, here is my a quick comment on digital piracy. Piracy is not just the problem of entertainment industry. As a director on the board of TeluguOne, I know how piracy can affect businesses and jobs, Not to belabor the point – there is a connection between cheap  money (read Feds) and piracy. When new companies only created number of  ‘eye-balls’ as business (dot-coms) as opposed to real business, and still got rewarded via sky high stock prices, it is inevitable to see the fall-out. [More on this later.]

Today Subba Rao garu commented on Krishna Chaitanya’s post. This well articulated  argument deserves to be a stand-alone article. Here it is:

The cost of making movies is always high and many crores are at stake. Producer puts all his money to make more money. Basically he is investing his money for better returns. But due to piracy he is losing viewership and money too. Are all the producers losing money? No. I don’t think so. Big producers are getting their investment with returns even before the movie is released by what they call “marketing”. It is always the small time producer who is effected by this piracy. And who is responsible for this? The government? People who watch the pirated movies? I don’t think so. The people who are responsible for creating this situation are big time producers/actors. They offer huge remuneration to actors and technicians. This makes the price of the ticket sky-high. How many can afford this? So people who cant afford this go for pirated versions. I am not supporting the people who watch/encourage the pirated versions of the movies.

This piracy cannot be prevented. Movie is for entertainment and everybody wants some fun in their life. The best way is to bring in some change in the economics of movies. If a movie is declared a hit, everyone who has a role in it deserves a pat on the back and and if it bombs they will have to share the pain too..

So, my idea is all the big cheques should be stopped.

The technicians/extras should be paid as they should. The high paid people should be paid token amount when signing. After the movie is released and the profits should be shared between the high paid actors/technicians. If there is loss, the burnt should be shared and the high paid will not get anything.

But for all these, The ticket prices in theaters should be brought down. Anyone would love to watch a new movie in a theater where the print is crystal clear with great sound. No one would love to watch a movie in cam print or another which is not master and without great sound.

Will this happen? Not sure. How many big producers supported this movie producer who went on strike.?

Anyway this is my opinion.

Related posts:

1. Tollywood’s fight against Piracy
2. Insurance for Telugu Movies
3. Canon EOS Digital SLR Camera – Capturing Perfection

With today’s technology, the pirates have gone hi-tech. Instead of renting or selling pirated CDs or DVDs, movies are being streamed on websites. Some of the websites offer both CAM prints and DVD prints even before the DVD is released. With most of these websites located outside the country, it could be a major challenge for AP police to shut them down. It is no secret how CAM rips are made. A video camera in the movie theater will get the job done. If the person can shell out some money to the theater folks or the person operating the movie projector, he will get to record the movie sitting right next to the movie projector. But how come DVD quality prints are being made available even before the DVD release? This can only mean one thing – theft during editing or distributing. Sadly, few of the film industry folks are backstabbing majority of their own brethren.

Producer Yalamanchi Ravichand has been fasting for the past four days to draw AP state government’s attention to piracy. Little did he know that our chief minister does not take initiatives. But the entire Telugu film industry has responded and called for a bandh tomorrow. Shootings, theater screenings and all film related activities will be cancelled. To bring pressure on AP state government, the industry folks have also decided to take out a rally from film chamber office to chief minister’s office. The rally would culminate with the film industry personnel submitting a memorandum on curbing piracy to chief minister.

Fearing piracy, small time producers have not been making many movies. This would kill the low budget movies. Even in case of big budget movies, producers, distributors and theater owners are financially hit by piracy. If piracy is not curbed, dark days lie ahead for Tollywood.

A few days ago, information and tourism minister, Geeta Reddy, has announced that the state government is thinking about reviving APCOCA. If revived, it is possible that piracy would also be considered as an organized crime. Though laws like these have been drafter earlier, they have not been implemented. It is about time that AP state government comes to the rescue of Telugu film industry.

http://voiceofnimmagadda.blogspot.com/2010/03/tollywoods-fight-against-piracy.html

If you like this post, please consider subscribing to my blog.

Related posts:

1. Digital Piracy and My 01 Cents
2. Insurance for Telugu Movies
3. Mayabazar: Behind the Scenes of a Memorable Scene

Insurance companies offer two kinds of insurances – production insurance and distribution insurance. Production insurance insures the cost associated with the film crew, lead actors and the sets that were built for the movie. Distribution insurance protects the producer up to a maximum of 90% of production costs when any banned organizations stall the screening of the film. When a producer files for insurance money, the money doled out by the insurance company mainly depends on the audience attendance in the previous week. If a movie had minimal audience for the previous week, the money obtained through insurance would also most likely be minimal. If a movie had already recovered 90% of its production cost, no money can be obtained through insurance.

With quite a few big-budget movies being produced these days, insurance coverage comes as a major relief to many producers. Hopefully, this would also encourage many new and upcoming producers.

Related posts:

1. Tollywood’s fight against Piracy
2. Digital Piracy and My 01 Cents
3. Mayabazar: Behind the Scenes of a Memorable Scene

And then in 1993 there were two groundhog days. Bill Murray starer Hollywood comedy flick, “The Groundhog Day” was released. The movie’s success at box office has redefined the meaning of groundhog day in American vernacular. The main theme of the movie is that a TV reporter, Phil (Bill Murray), who is covering the Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney gets stuck in a time warp and relives the day (February 2nd) over and over again.

Thus, since 1993 ‘groundhog day’ has become synonyms with Déjà Vu. I searched for a scene in this movie to post here. I found this. As I watched it, I realized that Rita (the woman character in the video) is looking for a man who is humble, honest, intelligent, funny, romantic, courageous….

Sorry Rita. I am taken.

Related posts:

1. Groundhog Day! Six more weeks of Winter :(
2. American Style Fraud: With Government Blessings
3. Fake News: Tollywood Style

Mayabazar, the movie: No introduction needed. The color version of Mayabazar, in theaters now and you can get a lot of info on various websites. I want to do something different for TeluGlobe.

Mayabazar has so many delightful scenes we all remember. But what is the scene that sticks out the most in your memory? On the Jan 29, 2010 Mohana Murali GaanaLahari, Srinivas – a listener from Ohio – talked about Mayabazar. I asked Srinivas, “If you saw Mayabazar as a kid, what is the most memorable scene in the movie?”

Srinivas replied, “It is the vivaaha bhojanambu song, and the delightful after the song scene in which Ghatotgaja swallows a lot of laddus and other food.”

Exactly! This is my memory as a child. Like Srinivas, I fantasized sitting upright and swallowing food as it magically defied gravity and found its way into my mouth.

Do you know this scene was not in the original script of the movie?

Director K.V. Reddy changed his attitude with Mayabazar. For Paataala Bhairavi and Pedda Manushulu, he never showed rushes [raw film footage] to anyone – including the producers. He didn’t want to be bothered by unsolicited comments by people who have no idea why he filmed a particular shot or scene, nor did he like being confused by those comments.

However, while filming Mayabazar, he felt that his attitude is giving him notoriety. After nearly completing all shooting and the rough edited copy arrived, he invited producers to see the footage. Both Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani saw the footage and felt that it was good.

Four days later, producer Nagi Reddy’s uncle Ranga Reddy from Nellore paid a visit. Ranga Reddy owned Shesh Mahal and Ranga Mahal in Nellore. Accompanying Ranga Reddy was Anjaneya Reddy, the manager of those theaters. They both saw the Mayabazar rushes at Nagi Reddy’s request. They did not like the movie.

Ranga Reddy saw the 1930s Mayabazar, in which Rami Reddy acted as Ghatotgaja. Obviously, Ranga Reddy would compare both movies. “In the old movie, Ghatotgaja pulled out two palm trees. He plucked nothing in this movie! And then there are laddus. In that movie, Ghatotgaja easily swallowed heaps of laddus. In this movie, what did he eat?”

Thus, both Ranga Reddy and Anjaneya Reddy gave a failing grade to the greatest movie ever made in Telugu. Nagireddy was a bit disappointed. For, he could not take the opinion of an experienced exhibitor like Ranga Reddy lightly.

The next day in Vahini studios, Nagi Reddy asked director KV Reddy, who was a hypertension patient, “How is your health?” Nagi Reddy didn’t want to disclose his uncle’s opinion when KV Reddy’s blood pressure was high. He was concerned about KV Reddy’s reaction.

Nagi Reddy broke the news smoothly, “My uncle Ranga Reddy saw Mayabazar rushes.”

An anxious KV Reddy asked, “How did he like it, brother?”

In a dismissive voice, Nagi Reddy said, “He said something. But don’t you worry about it brother.”

KV Reddy wanted to know, “Please brother, what did he say about the movie?”

Again in a dismissive voice, Nagi Reddy quoted a maxim and said, “A lot of people say a lot of things. We shouldn’t worry about them.”

KV Reddy got even more anxious. “Tell me what he said.”

Nagi Reddy then disclosed the news. “In the old Mayabazar, apparently Ghatotgaja pulled out two palm trees and ate heaps and heaps of laddus. Don’t bother about these comments.”

KV Reddy was silent for a couple of minutes. “Picture is not yet complete. Let us do the same – let him pluck a few trees. It is not difficult for me. I will pluck them too. Even laddus. We will make him eat as many laddus as we can. It is not difficult for me. We will make laddus and let the cameraman (Marcus) Bartley worry about it. Trick work. He (Bartley) will take care of it. I don’t even have to supervise him.”

“Brother, don’t you worry about what they said. You do what you think is necessary for the movie.” One more time Nagi Reddy expressed his vote of confidence in KV Reddy.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Another tidbit: It was KV Reddy’s habit to call everybody “brother.” NTR picked it from KV Reddy.

[This article is based on a chapter in the book: Thera Venuka Kathalu, by Sri DV Narasa Raju.]

Related posts:

1. Disgraceful Alterations to K.V. Ranga Reddy’s Autobiography
2. PCC Chief – A genius or just that lucky?
3. JagadekaVeeruni Katha: An Eternal Classic (1 of 5)