Kerala cyber crime police also arrested Jeb Stephen Raj from Madurai for uploading 'Raayan' to a streaming site.
Published Jul 29, 2024 | 6:00 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 01, 2024 | 12:31 PM
Tamil Rockers admin arrested for filming Dhanush's 'Raayan' in a theatre. (X)
Raayan, starring and directed by Dhanush, hit the big screens on 26 July. Since its release, pirated clips of the film have been circulating on social media.
The makers of Raayan reported the issue to cyber police, who traced the piracy to the Tamil Rockers group operating in Kerala.
Kerala cyber crime police arrested Jeb Stephen Raj from Madurai for uploading Raayan to a streaming site. Raj, an admin of Tamil Rockers, was also caught recording Raayan in a Thiruvananthapuram theatre.
Reports indicate that Raj recorded the film using his phone hidden in a cup holder.
Following the piracy of Raayan, the police discovered Raj was also involved in pirating other films released this year, including Guruvayoor Ambala Nadayil, Maharaja, and Kalki 2898 AD.
Raj received ₹5,000 from Tamil Rockers for each film uploaded and had been covertly working for the group while employed at a hotel in Kerala’s capital.
The Kerala cybercrime police, vigilant after similar incidents, are now interrogating Raj in Kochi, with cyber forensics set to examine his phone.
Anti-piracy investigators label Tamil Rockers as a major source for pirated South Indian films online.
Investigators in the past have found that the website is hosted on a US-based server but remain unclear about the identities of its operators. They suspect it might be a revenue-generating front for a radical group.
Tamil Rockers typically first release camcorder copies of films secretly recorded in cinemas and later update them with higher-quality formats, such as DVD versions, when available.
The site primarily earns through pop-up ads and membership fee. Investigators aim to uncover the site’s owners by tracing e-commerce accounts and tracking e-payment routes to identify the true beneficiaries of the piracy operation.
It is worth remembering that in 2019, the Delhi High Court ordered Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to websites such as Tamilrockers, eztv, katmovies, and limetorrents, which were involved in unauthorised streaming and distribution of movies and TV series from production houses like Warner Bros, Universal, and Netflix.
The court also directed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Information Technology to suspend the domain registrations of these infringing websites and issue notifications for ISPs and telecom providers to block these sites.
Produced by Sun Pictures, Raayan features a stellar cast including Selvaraghavan, Dushara Vijayan, Kalidas Jayaram, Sundeep Kishan, Aparna Balamurali, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, SJ Suryah, Prakash Raj, and Saravanan.
Despite mixed reviews, the film has performed well at the box office, earning ₹43 crore in three days. The film made ₹12 crore on Friday, ₹13 crore on Saturday, and ₹20 crore on Sunday.
With little competition in the South aside from Deadpool and Wolverine, Tamil Nadu theatres saw a 65 percent occupancy on Sunday.
Dhanush celebrated his 41st birthday on 28 July with a visit to the Tiruvannamalai temple in Tamil Nadu, accompanied by his children and parents.
On 29 July, he thanked everyone who wished him, including friends from the film industry, the press, and his fans. On social media, he described Raayan’s success as the best birthday gift ever.
(Edited by Y Krishna Jyothi)
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