Malayalam film piracy row takes new turn

A scene from the movie Premam.

The raging row over the piracy of blockbuster movie 'Premam' rattling the Malayalam film industry has taken a curious turn with the Anti-Piracy Cell of the Kerala police zeroing in on the crew members of the film for the leakage of the film.
The investigating team has found that the film had found its way to the internet from one of the two DVDs sent to the Censor Board for final certificate after corrections. The crew member, through whom the DVD was sent, had handed over only one DVD to the board officials.
He told the police that one DVD was destroyed as it was found damaged. The police found that this crew member had in his possession a hard disc. They believe that the film was copied into a computer from this disc at a studio in the state capital of Trivandrum and then leaked out.
The police have confiscated the hard disc. They have not disclosed the names of those who were involved in the incident and other details. The police said that they would divulge the details after more evidence is gathered.
The police have already questioned all the crew associated with the film, including the film director Alphonse Puthren. The director was questioned for nearly eight hours in the wake of reports that he had frictions with the film producer Anwar Rasheed.
The producer had quit all the film bodies saying they had not supported him at the hour of crisis. Puthren had denied any tiff with the producer. He had lashed out at the media following the questioning, accusing them of cooking up stories.
The anti-piracy cell had arrested two plus 2 students and a degree student in connection with the piracy, saying they had uploaded the movie on to a website four days after its release in theaters. However, the police have decided not to proceed against them in the wake of the latest findings.
The piracy row had led to a sharp division in the Malayalam film industry with the Film Exhibitors Federation shutting down the theatres for a couple of days protesting against the apathy of the authorities in taking effective action against the menace.

• India