Police officials meet Telugu film fraternity following piracy racket bust

The Hyderabad City Police officers held a high-level meeting with members of the Telugu film industry on Monday to share the findings and advise on preventive measures regarding piracy.

The meeting followed the bust of one of the largest film piracy rackets in recent years.

Commissioner CV Anand said that the visitor data from these websites sourcing pirated movies was being harvested and misused for other cybercrimes, including financial fraud and so-called ‘digital arrests’.

Senior actors, producers, exhibitors and digital distribution partners attended the meeting, where Commissioner Anand outlined how the offences were being committed.

“Our investigation revealed two primary modes of piracy: movies were either secretly recorded inside theatres using mobile phones or obtained through cyberattacks on digital distribution systems before their release,” said the commissioner.

The probe identified piracy portals such as TamilMV, Tail Blasters and Movierulz, which were found to be monetised through sponsors, including online gaming and betting operators.

“Pirated files were circulated widely through torrent sites, Telegram channels and illegal streaming platforms,” added the officer.

He further stressed the need for robust cyber-security practices across all stakeholders, including regular audits of delivery platforms, tighter access controls and swift reporting of suspicious activity. Theatre owners were urged to enforce strict restrictions on recording devices and improve surveillance to prevent in-hall piracy. Production units were advised to strengthen the chain of custody of film content, use forensic measures and watermarking to track leaks.

The film fraternity welcomed the initiative and assured full cooperation.

Among those present were actors Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh, Nagarjuna and Nani, along with Telangana Film Development Corporation chairman V. Venkata Ramana Reddy (Dil Raju).