Introduction

With the increase in advanced technology in this era, the modernization of technology has boosted the world on another new level, and the drawbacks are patent and the use of the fast and advance internet which seems to be much cheaper nowadays. We can also say that virtual life is relatively much low in cost than the real world. Thus, during the period of pandemic 2020, people have moved from real to virtual and find it more authentic and,  more comfortable to deal with. But virtuality is nothing new in the world of cinematography, which perpetually seems to be a curse to it.

Cinematography

The world “Cinematography” has derived from the Greek word Kinema which means “movement” and Graphic that means “to write”. The Cinematography also means “any work of virtual recording ***and includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and “Cinematograph” shall be construed as including any work produced by any process analogous to cinematography including video films[1]”. Generally, cinematography includes any film, short film, videos, live performance of sports, musical functions or dramatic work. The cinematography also includes the filmmakers, producers and others, who face many obstacles. Consequently, the common difficulties are piracy and infringement of copyright.

Piracy

Piracy is one of the most common problems that can be seen nowadays with the increase in advanced internet and technology, and the rate of piracy has also increased in the world of cinematography. Piracy means one unauthorisedly using the work of others and earns money. In this period of pandemic India sees a big spike of film piracy, which eventually rose to 62% in India in the last week of March. Also, film piracy increased by 41% in the US, 43% in the UK,50% in Spain, and 66% in Italy. India is among the top 5 countries among fellow downloading. Piracy causes a huge loss to the Indian media, filmmakers, and entertainment houses. The losses about 2.8 billion revenue annually and people also losing their jobs.

The Cinematography Act, 1957

·         The cinematography Act came into force on 28^th July 1957 by the information and broadcasting ministry of central government.

·         The main objective of cinematography act, 1957 was to provide certification to the cinematograph film for its exhibition and the procedure through which exhibition shall be regulated.

·         The central government by notifying the official gazette constitute a board which shall consist of the chairman of not less than 12 members and not more than 25 members.[2]

·         The application in a prescribed manner shall be given to the board of censors according to which he may exhibit the films.[3]

·         The certification may be classified into U, UA 12+, UA 15+, A, C-A and S[4].

·         This Act also includes suspension and revocation of a certificate, review of orders of the central government and so on.

This Act is deficient, there is a lot of apertures. For example, there is no specific reference as to the protection of the Act. The Act also reflects the insufficiency of sections providing penalties or taking penal actions. This deed becomes the ground for which it is important and a major obligation for bringing up the cinematography amendment bill 2019.

The Cinematography Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Cinematography Act (Amendment) Bill,2019 was introduced by the minister of the state of information and broadcasting Mr Rajyvardhan Singh Rathore, on February 12, 2019, in Rajya Sabha. Two new subsections have been inserted in Section 6A and 7 respectively.

1. 6AA has been inserted in Section 6A for the prohibition of unauthorized recording.

2. 1A has been inserted in Section 7 which includes penalties to those people who intervene in Section 6AA.

These two insertions of sections are the amendments that have been done and also explained the aim, objective, and reason behind the amendment.

Salient features of the The cinematography amendment bill, 2019

·         This amendment has criminalized piracy under Section 6AA which is the prohibition of unauthorized recording has been inserted under Sec.6A.

·         Section 6A states that “notwithstanding any law for the time being in force, no person shall, without the written authorization of the author, be permitted to use any audiovisual recording the device in a place to knowingly make or transmit or attempt to make or transmit or abet the making or transmission of a copy of a film or apart thereof[5].

{Here the author has been defined under Section 2(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957.}

·         The insertion of Section 1A in the Section of the original Cinematography Act, 1952 deals with the penalty to be imposed if any person intervenes Section 6AA.

·         Section 1A states that if any person contravenes the prohibition of 6AA, he shall be punishable with an imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years or with fine which may extend to 10 lakh rupees or both[6].

Objective

As we know, society keeps on changing as the law is. Law is a dynamic process so, it must be updated with the changing time. As there is an increase in the use of advanced technology, tools, and digital media, it keeps threatening to the filmmakers, the cinema theatre, and others. There is an increasing rate of piracy in recent time due to which the film industries are facing a huge loss.

To keep on check the piracy of films, infringement of copyright and other violation which causes significant loss to the government monetary. Thus, the amendment of the bill was necessary and mandatory.

Conclusion

These are a needed amendment to keep a check on the increasing rate of piracy. But in my consideration, this is not the exact solution to the problem of piracy. By selling unauthorized media, monetary earning is much more than what they are penalizing. Piracy is not only within India but has crossed to different countries also. According to FFI of Bangladesh, Mr Firdausal Hassan stated that the people of Bangladesh could watch even if it is not released there. The government has also taken several steps to control piracy like reducing the GST on cinema tickets and strict prohibition of cameras in the cinema hall. But this is not the proper solution we must focus on the root rather than the outer objectives.

Reference:

•         https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/cinematograph-amendment-bill-2019
•          http://164.100.47.4/billstexts/rsbilltexts/AsIntroduced/Cinemato-Rs%20intro-E.pdf
•          https://www.khuranaandkhurana.com/2019/02/20/the-cinematograph-amendment-bill-2019/
•      https://www.mondaq.com/india/broadcasting-film-tv-radio/784368/the-cinematograph-amendment-bill-2019#:~:text=The%20Cinematograph%20Amendment%20Bill%2C%202019%20aims%20to%20tackle%20film%20piracy,camcording%20and%20duplication%20of%20films.
•          https://www.cbfcindia.gov.in/main/CBFC_English/Attachments/cine_act1952.pdf
•          The copyright Act,1957
•          Intellectual Property Law by P. Narayanan.Eastern law House publishers.