Thanks to the internet boom, films moved away from the 70mm screen and on to the palms and laps of anyone with an internet device. And soon enough, every film was available online as a torrent. Every year the film industry loses around Rs 2000 crore to piracy! In fact, with social media gaining prominence, movies are easily leaked online. Padmaavat is a recent victim of this. A Facebook user streamed the entire film on his profile. In just one hour, the film was streamed by 3.5 lakhs FB users. Despite being a box office success, we can easily say that this incident has affected the business of the film to a large extent. To know how piracy has turned out be a curse for Bollywood, take a look at the most pirated films of the last three years… (Also read: After Amitabh Bachchan, will Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, and Priyanka Chopra’s follower count on Twitter face the axe?)
Raees (2017)
Shah Rukh Khan‘s action thriller, Raees, was the most pirated film last year. The news was confirmed by the film’s director, Rahul Dholakia, through his tweet. The film was shared 61,87,379 times as video files. Despite earning around Rs 137 crore, the film lost around Rs 70-80 crore due to piracy.
Sultan (2016)
Salman Khan‘s sports drama, Sultan, which crossed the Rs 300 crore mark at the box office was also a victim of piracy. The complete film was shared on YouTube and even distributed through illegal DVDs. While the makers eventually removed all the links from piracy sites, the damage was done. However, it didn’t much hamper Salman’s film that managed to sell thanks to his star power, films like Great Grand Masti and Udta Punjab faced a great business crunch due to online leak and piracy.
Dilwale (2015)
It seems like Shah Rukh Khan‘s films are a favourite with the pirates. Coming to Dilwale, while the masala entertainer underperformed at the box office, it became a huge hit on torrents. Dilwale had collected around Rs 148 crore and the collections of the film would have been double if it hadn’t been leaked online.