Introduction
There is rampant film piracy in India, especially after the
COVID-19 pandemic, where it rose by 62% between February 2020 to
March 20201 perhaps due to rapid digitization in this period. The
government has proposed amendments to the Cinematograph Act, 1952
(Cinematograph Act) in 2010, 2018, 2019 and 2021 pursuant to the
observations and the recommendations made in the Mukul Mudgal
Committee (2013), Shyam Benegal Committee (2016) and the Standing
Committee on Information Technology (2019-2020).
Background
In 2010, a draft of the Cinematograph Bill, 2010 was first
introduced and circulated by the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting (MIB) in an attempt to bring about a change in the
system of the film certification to a classification process. To
examine these issues, the Mukul Mudgal Committee (MM Comm) was set
up in 2013. In the MM Comm Report in 2013 (MM Comm Report),
recommendations on issues such as: (a) formation of advisory
panels; (b)
