Copyrights, Piracy in Tollywood - Vangapandu & Magadheera

I was watching the television commercial and subsequent appeal of Ram Charan Teja, about the efforts that the film-unit has put into this epic of recent times, Magadheera.

The hero appealed to the Telugu audience, not to encourage piracy and honor the copyrights of the creators of the movie.

While I respect his right to protect his rights, I realized the film makers’ double standards when I saw poet Vangapandu Prasada Rao complaining that his song was copied into Magadheera.

The song in question, “Em Pillado, Eldamostava!” is indeed a popular number that created many revolutionary leaders in villages and small towns since ages. Not many would know Vangapandu, but all Telugu audience would have listened to his song sometime.

I think it is unfair on the film unit’s part to use the lyric (even if it is just one line) and that too, use it for shooting filthy romance.

With this, the filmmaker’s request for curbing piracy and upholding copyrights appear to be sham.

Seems, Magadheera’s special effects are not just on the screen. They are off the screen too. Two theaters in the state which were screening this movie have witnessed accidents with reports of loss of life in both the cases.