Mumbai, 20th May, 2008

A major film piracy racket has been cracked by Mumbai police and has arrested four people in Gujarat. The police raided Shivam theatre at Bilimora in Navsari district of Gujarat and have seized substantial incriminating material.

It all started when Yash Raj films, producers of the recently released Tashan discovered a pirated DVD of the same movie in the market and upon analyzing it found the security arrows and watermarks, which are put in by UFO Moviez during digitalization. Yash Raj Films raised their concern and UFO in turn quickly found out that the camera print has been generated at Shivam theatre, on 25th April at 2.30 am (few hours before the first show) by placing a high-end camera in front of the screen in an empty cinema hall. Pirates being unaware of the fact that UFO technology inserts a watermark slate during the playback of the movie. This water mark is unique for each theatre / movie & show & once that water mark is found in any pirated content, UFO technology can detect the date / time & location of the act. Once that watermark was found in the pirated content, UFO moviez promptly lodge a formal complaint to the enforcement branch of Mumbai police with proper documentation. The police taking due steps involved Central Forensic Lab at KALINA and attested the findings of UFO. Then based on the report by the lab a special team led by Sr. Inspector Raju Joshi was dispatched to Bilimora on the evening of Friday, 15th May. Gadekar and his men raided the theatre and the residence of the manager and owner and arrested the culprit Vikram Patel. Vikram would be produced in court on Wednesday. The owner of the theatre is a nephew of a senior BJP leader, who is a minister.

Mr. Rakesh Maria said that "the piracy market in India is worth Rs. 4000 crores and deprives the government of crores of rupees of Entertainment Tax. According to a report commissioned by USIBC (United States India Business Council) to Ernst & Young 8 lakh people across the world lose their legitimate livelihood every year. Mumbai being the epicenter of Indian film industry the State Home department has put piracy top on its agenda and recently extended stringent provisions of Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act to Piracy which is awaiting the Centre’s approval. DCP – Enforcement Sanjay Mohite supervised the overall investigation in this matter."