The Hindu Business Line : Centre to clamp down on film, video piracy with model law

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, releasing a FICCI-Ernst & Young report on ‘Indian entertainment down South — From Script to Screen” at the inaugural session of Media and Entertainment Conclave organised by FICCI, in Chennai on Wednesday. Others are the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Ms Ambika Soni, film director Yash Chopra (extreme left), the Partner and Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young, Mr Farokh Balsara, and Chairman of the Conclave, Mr Kamal Haasan.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Nov. 18 The Union Government has decided to deal with film and video piracy with a firm hand through a model law so that the hard work, sweat and toil of creative people is not taken advantage of by some “unscrupulous elements,” Ms Ambika Soni, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, said here today.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day Media and Entertainment Business Conclave, organised by FICCI, Ms Soni said her Ministry has decided to call for a national-level meeting of State Information Ministers on December 5 to discuss this and other issues facing the industry.

The Government of India would also request the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, to draft a model law to combat piracy and the same would be presented to the State governments at the conference, she said.

The conference, which will be attended by some Chief Ministers, will also discuss the model law to be drafted by Tamil Nadu and State Governments would be requested to replicate and implement the legislation within the framework of State laws.

Ms Soni said the Centre was on the threshold of starting the auctions for FM radio Phase 3. “A Cabinet note in this regard has already been circulated in the various Central Ministries,” she said.

The Ministry, she said, would spend Rs 100 crore this year to strengthen the terrestrial reach along India’s borders “to save the country from any propaganda and disinformation from across the country.” The Minister assured that the Union Government would tie-up with film production companies from all States in a public-private partnership mode to create a robust international market for Indian films. These co-productions would be marketed through film festivals worldwide and Indian missions abroad.

She also said tax burden and other related problems being faced by the industry would be taken up by her ministry with the Finance Minister.

She assured the film industry that her Ministry was “totally committed to the growth and development of the industry,” and urged the stakeholders to raise their demands for fiscal relief and ironing out of procedural hassles.

The Minister said that the Government would set up a national institute for animation studies in the 11th Plan period to train people and create expertise so as to make the animation industry a principal source of employment.

The location of the institute, she said, was yet to be decided upon.

She also announced that a National Retrospective of Kamal Haasan’s films would be held in New Delhi next year.

Mr Karunanidhi, in his inaugural address, unveiled his “dream and vision to make Tamil Nadu the entertainment epicentre for the global industry.” Towards this end, he said, the proposal to establish a cinema township in Tamil Nadu has found favour with the State Government and it had decided to support it and extend all necessary assistance.

A welfare board for the cinema industry has already been constituted by the State Government. He pointed out that the DMK Government had progressively reduced entertainment tax from 54 per cent to 40 per cent in 1989, to 30 per cent in 1998 and again to 25 per cent in 2000. This tax is now totally waived for movies having Tamil language titles.

Mr Karunanidhi said the South was now brimming with activity in the entertainment sector. Sony Pictures announced the opening of its facility in Chennai last year.

Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imaging and the Chennai-based Prasad Corporation recently announced a strategic alliance. This alliance, the Chief Minister said, would bring their combined skills in digital post production and film restoration to clients in Hollywood, India and around the world.

The Chief Minister urged the industry to donate a part of the remuneration received by film professionals to the needy. Quoting his own example as one who entered Tamil cinema at 28 in 1952 and one who was still with it at 86, he said, “Even now I am writing dialogues for two films. The remuneration received by me so far has been donated for the welfare of the downtrodden Arunthathiyar students and the economically weaker cine artistes. I would be happy if this practice is continued by you in the larger interests of the poor people in our society.”

On the occasion, the Chief Minister and the Union I&B Minister released the FICCI-E&Y Report titled ‘Indian Entertainment Down South — From Script to Screen’.

Film industry icon Mr Kamal Haasan, Chairman of the Conclave, said, “We are here to prove that there are no parochial borders between us. Even the media borders were blurring,” he said, urging the industry “to get ready for tomorrow and there will be many more tomorrows.”

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