VOA常速英语2008年-Indian Film Industry, Bollywood, Steps Up Fight

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
28 April 2008

The Indian Hindi language movie industry - popularly known as Bollywood - is stepping up its fight against film piracy¹ both at home and overseas.  As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, Bollywood films lose billions of dollars because of infringement² of copyright laws.         

In a busy market in Central Delhi, pirated CDs and DVDs of popular Hindi movies produced by the Mumbai-based Bollywood film industry are freely available.

Ask a shop owner for DVDs of the latest Hindi movie hits and he produces them from under the counter.  A quick bargain drives down the price from two dollars to just a dollar and a half.

Infringement of copyright laws is rampant³ in India, where Bollywood's colorful stories, peppered with song and dance, are a rage.

A recent study estimates that India's entertainment industry loses $4 billion, and 800,000 jobs, each year, because of piracy.

These losses are not unique to India.  Piracy is also a growing problem in Western countries, like the United States and Britain, which are home to large Indian populations.  For these people, Bollywood films provide an important cultural link with their homeland. 

Film Federation⁴ of India Secretary Supran Sen says tens of thousands of people in these countries buy illegal DVDs of Hindi films.  He says these are easily available in small retail⁵ stores, usually owned by Indians. 

"There are certain pockets where we have a sizable population of Indians, but then there are no theatrical⁶ releases there," Sen explained.  "I do not know what is the reason.  Those Indians would definitely like to see the films.  So, in that scenario⁷, they are bound to take certain films, certain cassettes which may not be legally released there."

The Western markets have become so big that Bollywood film producers are basing some of their biggest blockbusters on Indians living overseas.  

In Mumbai, Komal Nahata is publisher of a Bollywood trade magazine called "Film Information."  He says Hindi movies casting top stars earn big money in countries such as the United States and Great Britain.       

"In some cases, the overseas market is almost as huge as the Indian market," Nahata noted⁸.  "Which means theatrical revenues - 50 percent of the revenues come from India and 50 percent sometimes from the overseas circuit, alone."     

The huge scale of the problem has prompted Bollywood to step up the fight against piracy both at home and overseas.

On a recent visit to Washington, Indian filmmakers urged American enforcement agencies to help plug the losses suffered by them.

An advocacy group, the U.S.-India Business Council, and American film companies are collaborating⁹ with Bollywood to combat piracy by raising awareness¹⁰ of the problem with American authorities.

And, as Hollywood promises to help Bollywood's efforts to curb¹¹ piracy in the United States, Bollywood says it will do the same for American movies in India, which also lose revenue because of  piracy.   

In India, Bollywood is urging authorities to take more stringent¹² action against copyright violators.

New Delhi based lawyer Chander Lall represents the American Motion Pictures Association in India. He says, a decade ago, enforcement agencies treated piracy more as an economic rather than a criminal offense¹³, and action against offenders¹⁴ was slow.  But he says that is changing.  

"They have realized that copyright piracy has almost 800 percent profit margins," Lall said.  "So all elements who are indulging in heinous¹⁵ crimes are all now dealing¹⁶ with pirated software and pirating copyright works.  So there is a change.  The magistrates¹⁷ are getting more sensitive to the fact that this is a very serious crime.  Police is getting sensitized to it.  As the industry raises its voice it is being heard by different elements.  So, it is changing, slowly but surely."

But Bollywood wants faster change.  It is asking authorities to create a separate police and judicial¹⁸ system to enforce copyright laws in India, because it says India's judicial system moves too slowly to be effective.

Bollywood is the world's most prolific¹⁹ film industry, producing more than 800 films every year.  Its global audience is estimated at 3.5 billion people.  But, is probably much larger, if the audiences for pirated movies are also taken into account.

1 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

2 infringement   

n.违反；侵权

参考例句：

• Infringement of this regulation would automatically rule you out of the championship.违背这一规则会被自动取消参加锦标赛的资格。
• The committee ruled that the US ban constituted an infringement of free trade.委员会裁定美国的禁令对自由贸易构成了侵犯

3 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

4 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

5 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

6 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

7 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

12 stringent   

adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的

参考例句：

• Financiers are calling for a relaxation of these stringent measures.金融家呼吁对这些严厉的措施予以放宽。
• Some of the conditions in the contract are too stringent.合同中有几项条件太苛刻。

13 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

14 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

15 heinous   

adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的

参考例句：

• They admitted to the most heinous crimes.他们承认了极其恶劣的罪行。
• I do not want to meet that heinous person.我不想见那个十恶不赦的人。

16 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

17 magistrates   

地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to come up before the magistrates 在地方法院出庭
• He was summoned to appear before the magistrates. 他被传唤在地方法院出庭。

18 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

19 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。