Pirated CDs throng the market

Ranchi, May 8: Wanna watch the recent Bollywood blockbuster? Plan to drop at the nearest theatre. Else, you can pick your favourite movie VCD from a parlour at your neighbourhood, and that, too at a price less than a quarter you have to pay at the hall.

Ranchi is full with pirated VCDs in the video-parlours and police sit idle. While the video-parlours keep blankets of original VCDs to mislead the police, they sell pirated versions to make more profits.

The people blame that originals are not available, while the parlour owners say the originals are not in demand.

Besides the pirated Hindi and English blockbusters, the pornography VCDs are also in demand.

But after the Anup Sharan sleaze and the Anara Gupta episode more of desi stuffs are asked by the customers, mostly school and college students. Such films are available in limited stocks and are given only to trusted and regular customers.

New films are not available in stores since the producers do not release the films in VCD version within one month of the release of the film.

The pirated versions of these VCDs are recorded from halls, which are not only illegal but also of very poor quality.

The Daily Market is the hub of grey electronic goods but it is the pirated movies, albums and songs that form the main source of earning for most of the shopkeepers. This, in turn, affects the entertainment industry.

?We incur heavy losses due to piracy because people generally prefer buying low cost VCDs as soon as the films are released. We invest lots of money in the films and the piracy do not allow us to recover our investments,? aid Abhay Singh, a Mumbai-based assistant director who is on a visit to the city.