MUMBAI: A few days ago in a raid carried out in two stalls near Andheri Station in the Mumbai suburb, the anti-piracy team of Shemaroo Video seized over 1,000 pirated DVDs and 3,500 VCDs and MP3s. An FIR has been filed against the two people involved in the illicit activity.

The raid happened after initial surveys and warnings carried out by Shemaroo's anti-piracy head Gyanchand Maroo, which the stall owners ceased to heed. With the help from a Mumbai DCP Ravindra Sangaokar pirated DVDs and VCDs of recent releases like Tango Charlie, Zehar, Mughal-e-Azam (colour), TV series Friends and Sex and the City, movies Star Wars, Alexander and James Bond were caught in the raid. Incidentally, Shemaroo is releasing the original DVDs and VCDs of Tango Charlie, Zehar and Mughal-E-Azam.

Piracy has been rampant near railway stations in Mumbai and Shemaroo hopes that efforts like these will help curb piracy at the ground level. The company states that officers like Sangaokar and DCP Apranti have been of great help and efforts like these will help curb piracy, even if at a minimal level.

The Shemaroo anti-piracy team carries out various vigilance activities like gathering information, surveillance and warning the pirates. The team also gives information about dealing in legitimate products and educates people on the consequences of dealing in pirated video products. It is only when they cease to heed all the warnings that Shemaroo raids the outlet and takes action against the pirates.

Having an end-to-end objective in mind, Shemaroo states that it believes that fighting anti-piracy will gradually increase the legitimate home video market. Increased revenues can be shared with other people involved in the entertainment industry, which will also help the government get more taxes thus making the black economy shrink.