Taken all steps to minimise ‘Manjhi – The Mountain Man’ leak impact: Viacom 18

Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, the distributor of “Manjhi – The Mountain Man“, on Thursday said they had taken all the required steps for damage control due to its leak.

“A number of measures have been taken. We’ve got a John Doe order (making any sort of piracy in the form of uploading or downloading content from the film liable for action) against all the ISPs (internet service providers). We’ve also put a complaint in the cyber branch of the Mumbai Police cell. So, this is not just a civil offence but a criminal offence. Besides that, we’re trying to go after the various infringing sites,” Viacom’s chief operating officer Ajit Andhare told media at a screening of the film.

“But beyond all this somewhere I feel that this movie and what this movie is all about, will make people feel that they should, perhaps in the right frame of mind, watch it where it’s watched best – the theatres,” he said.

The film starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte was leaked on digital platforms on August 10, which Radhika had termed, “saddening”. Viacom 18 Motion Pictures are the distributors of the film.

The leak hasn’t demoralized the company. “The buzz is excellent and it is what we had expected. Despite all the various challenges, we’re very proud to be where we are. The spirit of the film is about moving mountains and with a film like this, we’ll hopefully move mountains,” said Andhare.

The Ketan Mehta-directed film is a biopic on Dashrath Manjhi, a Bihar man who toiled 22 years to break open a mountain to carve a roadway.

Inputs by IANS