Piracy woes for '24', producer goes on hunger strike

Suriya-starrer Tamil time-travel thriller "24" is the latest film to get caught up in the web of piracy. A week after its release in cinemas, it has been found that the movie was pirated on the first day of its release in Bengaluru.

Producer Gnanavel Raja has announced indefinite hunger strike until the industry doesn't come together and take stern measures against piracy.

"I've been on hunger strike since Friday evening. It's time to act together as an industry," Raja told IANS.

According to a statement issued by Qube, popular digital cinema provider, the film was illegally recorded during the 9.45 a.m. show on May 6 (first day of release) at PVR Orion Mall in Bengaluru.

With the help of forensic watermarking, which uses an invisible identifying code unique to each theatre, Qube were able to zero in on the server, and that is registered to PVR Orion Mall.

Directed by Vikram Kumar, the film features Suriya in triple roles and it also stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Nithya Menen.