Piracy and taxes are stifling creativity in India’s film industry, argues Bollywood producer
Ronnie Screwvala
On 20 April, Constantin Films, the producer of the Academy Award-nominated film Downfall, asked YouTube to remove every video that infringed the now-famous “Hitler finds out …” meme. The scene shows Hitler’s rage against disloyalty in his besieged Berlin bunker and has been subtitled to parody everything from the reduction in iPhone prices to problems with Windows Vista. Proponents of user-generated content and free speech advocates across the globe were up in arms, making the case that Downfall reached more people as a result of the satires surrounding its release. This illustrates the paradoxical issues facing IP holders as we move into a brave new era without “gatekeepers” for content.
The consumption of content, be it books, music or video, has changed drastically in today’s digital era in which everyone “shares” content and everything is available for free.
Despite the existence of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, rights-owners have continued to face major problems. A lack of awareness and general apathy for the protection of intangible rights, as well as inconsistencies and ineffectiveness in the administration of IP laws, have resulted in significant commercial losses.
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Ronnie Screwvala is a Mumbai-based film producer and CEO and founder-chairman of UTV Group.
