'Pirates' of Coromandel: Tamil Rockers release Vijay Sethupathi-starrer

Tamil movie Ka Pae Ranasingam, starring Vijay Sethupathi, Aishwarya Rajesh, Samuthirakani, and Yogi Babu was leaked on illegal movie piracy platform Tamil Rockers within just two hours after release on Friday (October 2).

Ka Pae Ranasingam is the first Tamil film in India to be released on a digital platform with a pay-per-view format. The film was launched on Zee Plex on Friday at 12 noon, and viewers could watch the movie for ₹199 per view.

After being purchased, the movie can be viewed anytime within the next 48 hours, but once the movie starts to play on the site, the link will be active for viewing only for the next six hours.

However, links for downloading the film in high definition with subtitles were found on the Tamil Rockers website less than two hours after the film was released online.

Other movies including Khaali Peeli (Hindi) and Nishabdham/Silence (multi-lingual) that were released on OTT platforms on Friday too were leaked by Tamil Rockers.

Nishabdham/Silence, starring Madhavan and Anushka Shetty, was released on Amazon Prime Video, while Khaali Peeli will be launched across a variety of OTT platforms including Zee Plex, Airtel Digital TV, and on DTHs like Tata Sky and D2H.

Apart from Tamil Rockers, other piracy sites like Pocket TV too have released the movies illegally.

Related news: Spoiler: Tamilrockers ‘release’ Avengers: Endgame on internet

The move by Tamil Rockers is expected to affect the gross collection of the films, since they were launched only across OTT platforms and are not in theatres yet due to the COVID-induced lockdown.

Tamil Rockers has made the headlines several times in the past for similar reasons, with the piracy site leaking films for free, sometimes even before the movie was released officially in theatres.

Earlier, Hollywood superhero film Avengers: Endgame, the release of which was eagerly awaited by fans across the globe, was released on Tamilrockers, resulting in severe criticism. Hours ahead of the movie’s release, the website had released the entire movie online.

The makers of the film, Joe and Anthony Russo, had urged fans on social media to not give away any spoilers so that it could be enjoyed in toto by all.