Watching Pirated Movies Online NOT An Offense: Bombay HC

The Bombay high court has said it is inaccurate to suggest that merely viewing an illicit copy of a film is a punishable offense under the Copyright Act.

"The offense is not in viewing, but in making a prejudicial distribution, a public exhibition or letting for sale or hire without appropriate permission copyright-protected material," Justice Gautam Patel said. He asked Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to drop the line "'viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating' a particular film is a penal offense" from the 'error message' and directed them to display a more generic message on URLS to be blocked for infringement of copyright.

Those who search for Torrents download or free Bollywood and Hollywood movies online may have noticed a lotta their favorite sites being shut down, thanks to the strong anti-piracy campaign that Bollywood makers are running. In fact even the trailer reaction videos of genuine fans are being forced to be taken down by Bollywood makers. Fans have reacted angrily to this.

Even though most torrent sites are being shut down, it is nearly impossible for Bollywood or Hollywood to control the internet. Movies will be watched online and for various reasons:

1. The cost of watching movies in cinema halls is incredibly high.
2. The quality of movies are terrible, 1 in 10 movies is actually worth watching, rest 90% sucks.

For a middle class Indian family, watching Bollywood movies in a cinema hall turns out to be an expensive affair for various reasons.

Back in the 90s if a family of 5 residing in Mumbai had to watch a movie together, the expenses used to be something like this:

1. Tickets for 5: Rs. 20 x 5 Members = Rs. 100
2. Auto Fare to and from Home/Cinema = Rs. 20
3. Pepsi: Rs. 10 x 5 = Rs. 50
4. Popcorn: Rs. 10 x 5 =  Rs. 50
---------------------------------------
Total Cost: Rs 220 (For 5 members)
---------------------------------------

Now let us find out what the same middle class family of 5 would have to pay in 2016 to watch a movie in a Cinema Hall:

1. Tickets for 5 at PVR: Rs 380 x 5 Members = Rs. 1900
2. Auto Fare:  Rs. 200
3. Pepsi: Rs. 100 x 5: Rs. 500
4. Popcorn: Rs. 150 x 5 = Rs. 750
---------------------------------------
Total Cost: Rs. 3350 (For 5 members)
---------------------------------------

If only the Salary of middle class people had increased that much and the cost of living remained the same, everyone would have prefered to watch Bollywood movies in theaters.

Why do we see most multiplexes empty on weekdays? Most of the time you see only 2 to 3 rows filled. Not because the movie is terrible, it is only because the pricing is atrociously stupid.

Bollywood must review the pricing of movie tickets in Cinema Halls and work with the owners to bring down the ticket prices to discourage piracy, otherwise people would have no choice but to watch these movies only on the internet.