New Telugu movies stream illegally in HD: 100+ piracy sites active; TFCC filed 15 complaints in 18 months
Despite the industry's best efforts, no big-budget or hit Telugu film is immune. According to anti-video piracy cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce, around 100 active piracy websites are currently in operation, offering illegal access to newly released films. As of now, titles like Kannappa, Kubera, Badmashulu, and Thug Life—all of which released in June—are already listed for download and streaming.
1 in 2 films gets pirated
On average, about 150 Telugu films are released each year, and over 50% of them are pirated.
The first illegal copies often emerge from cellphone recordings inside theatres in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, uploaded within hours of release.
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For multi-lingual releases, especially those dubbed in Hindi, the piracy quality gets even better. 'High definition pirated copies often come from northern states like Bihar, where cameras mounted on tripods are used inside theatres. The video and audio are recorded separately and then synced during editing before uploading,' said a TFCC representative.
In many cases, the original audio is swapped in during post-editing to make the pirated version more appealing to local viewers.
10-15 plaints in 18 months
Pirated prints originate from overseas screenings, especially in regions with large Telugu-speaking diaspora, making the first leak nearly impossible to contain.
In the past 18 months, the TFCC's anti-piracy cell has filed 10 to 15 complaints with the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police commissionerates, resulting in four FIRs.
'We act the moment a producer alerts us about a pirated copy circulating online,' said Y Mahindra Babu, project head of the TFCC anti-video piracy cell.
'Last year, we helped police arrest a person for uploading a pirated version of Pushpa 2 on his YouTube channel... We regularly write to I&B ministry seeking to block such websites whenever we identify them,' he said. Cyber crime officials say most piracy websites are hosted on international servers, making enforcement difficult.
'Even if one site is blocked, a mirror site appears within hours—slightly modifying URL, but keeping the same pirated content active,' an officer said
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