'Premam' row: Makers asked to appear before Anti Piracy cell

The Anti-Piracy cell here today summoned hit Malayalam film "Premam" producer Anwar Rasheed and director Alphonse Puthren in connection with the controversy over the issue of piracy of the movie.
The cell, which had carried out a series of raids and questioned several persons, including the officials of Censor Board and staffers of Aries Vismaya Max Studio here, will also be questioning the employees in the Chennai based studio run by Bollywood filmmaker Priyadarshan in connection with the row, a senior Anti-piracy official told PTI.
"We have directed the movie's producer, director and assistant director to appear for questioning. The officials in the Chennai studio of Priyadarshan will also be quizzed," he said.

A team of Anti-Piracy officials would soon go to Chennai and collect evidences from Priyadarshan's studio, he added.
There were allegations that the pirated copy of the movie had been leaked from the studio.
The director rubbished the allegations, saying that his studio had done only the Dolby mixing of "Premam".

Meanwhile, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief, Pahlaj Nihalani, is expected to visit Thiruvananthapuram this week to enquire into the matter.
Hailed as one of the all-time Malayalam blockbusters, Nivin Pauly-starrer "Premam", which revolves around the three phases of the love life of the protagonist George, was set to cross all collection records in the industry.

The leakage of the pirated version had created waves in the film industry soon after its release, prompting Rasheed to resign from various film associations allegedly due to lack of support from them.
According to him, the pirated version had the water mark of censor copy.
The censor copies had been given to studios here and Chennai, where post production works of the film were held, he said.
Various film personalities, including actors and directors, have come up in support of the "Premam" team.
Expressing solidarity, Superstar Mammootty wrote in his Facebook page that piracy would kill the industry and all efforts should be made to put a stop to it.

The state government had intervened in the issue and directed the anti-piracy cell to carry out a probe.
So far nine persons have been arrested from various parts of the state in connection with the downloading of the pirated CD from different places. Most of them are youngsters and cases have been registered under the Copyright Act.