22nd March 2005

The Film Chamber of Andhra Pradesh expressed its happiness over the passing of the Video Piracy Bill in the Legislative Assembly. Talking at a press conference held at Film Chamber Of Commerce, Hyderabad, Sri. G Adi Seshagiri Rao expressed his gratitude to the Chief Minister for looking into the matter.

Also present was MAA president Mohan Babu who said, "When we met the CM, Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, in September last year he promised us that he would take care of the problem of video piracy and he stood by his word. We are thankful to him for taking action at such a quick pace. He has saved the small producers and the industry as a whole by this act."

He further said, "I specify small producers because they are the ones who are most affected by this piracy problem. The big stars and banners have their fan clubs to curb piracy but a small producer has nowhere to go. With the passing of this bill all the small producers can be rest assured that piracy will not eat into their profits."

Adi Seshagiri Rao who spoke next said, "First and foremost I would like to thank the CM for his actions against video piracy." He further said, "All our remaining problems which we put in front of the Chief Minster have also received a positive response. He has promised to look into the matter of removing or reducing the slab system that is prevailing in the state. Even the matter of subsidies to small films was discussed."

The bill, which was passed by the Legislation, specifies that video piracy is now going to be treated as a criminal offense. The punishment for this will be rigorous imprisonment. Also present at the press meet were K S Rama Rao, C Kalyan and Shyam Prasad.

PS: The film industry is playing a friendly match against the legislative members on March 23. Chiranjeevi is going to lead the Film Stars XI team against the Speaker's XI.

- Aditya