Cinematography Act may get more teeth

Law to book video piracy-related cases under the Goonda Act and amendments to the Karnataka Cinematography Act is expected in six months.

Home minister VS Acharya, speaking to reporters after meeting office bearers of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), said, “Chamber members have presented a charter of demands, which will be examined and sent to the departments concerned for their opinion before being implemented. It may take four to six months for it to become a law.”

The chamber has sought stringent measures to curb video piracy in the state and to charge the violators under the Goonda Act. Acharya, said, “They have suggested to us to bring in a law like the one existing in Andhra Pradesh and asked us to speed up the process of implementing the Goonda Act on video piracy.”

For the Cinematography Act amendments, the chamber has pointed out that standalone film theatres have become redundant in the days of multiplexes and need to change to suit the present day requirements.

“Keeping this in mind, their demand is to bring in changes to the Act to facilitate temporary, semi-permanent and permanent film theatres to renew their licence once in three years, instead of two years at present. This, they claim would facilitate theatre owners to undertake renovations,” said Acharya.

The KFCC has also asked the government to set up special courts to try video piracy cases. “The chamber has asked for courts to be set up in Bangalore as many a major film is made and distributed in the state,” said Acharya.