INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Man Watches Pirated Movie On Plane Unaware Star Is Seated Next To Him

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 01:35 PST, Jan 4, 2016

A passenger used a personal projector to watch a pirated movie on a plane recently, totally unaware that the star of the Bollywood film was seated right next to him. Kriti Sanon, 25, was understandably very annoyed and immediately went on to Twitter to complain, 140 characters at a time.

The Inquisitr recently reported that all the big Christmas movies were illegally uploaded in the form of DVD screeners, including The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, Joy, and Bridge of Spies. DVD screeners are copies of the movie that are released to the various award officials prior to the film’s release in the theaters, to enable them to make their choices for upcoming nominations. Reportedly, many thousands of people have since downloaded and watched the movies illegally.

However, it seems it’s not just Hollywood movies that are being pirated. India’s version, Bollywood, is also feeling the negative effects of illegal pirating and downloads.

The star of the Bollywood film in question, Kriti Sanon, has been celebrating the colossal success of her second movie, Dilwale, but she certainly wasn’t impressed to find her fellow passenger using a personal projector to view the pirated movie on board the plane, which was apparently on the way to Delhi.

Using the hashtag #SayNoToPiracy, she instantly hit the Twittersphere in annoyance, including photos of the man in question and the pirated movie itself, projected onto the interior bulkhead wall of the plane.

The tweet has been favorited over 2,500 times and retweeted over 1,200 times at the time of writing. Sanon was also distressed at the sheer bad quality of the copy her fellow passenger was viewing and also made that known on Twitter.

The passenger’s face can clearly be seen as he sprawls comfortably in his seat, earphones attached and apparently thoroughly enjoying the film, totally unaware of who was seated next to him.

According to further messages in her Twitter feed, when Kriti Sanon was told it was a criminal offense and asked what action she had taken, she said she did approach the man about the fact he was watching the pirated movie illegally and that he would enjoy her film far more in a theater, but apparently this was to no avail, as the man merely bragged about his fancy personal projector.

There was a mixed response to her Twitter outburst about the pirated movie, with some commenters responding it is a criminal offense to download pirated films.

Others commented, saying regrettably it is quite common, with one saying, “Lot of people watch it every day in the train while going to work.”

However, as reported by the Mirror, another Twitter user made the point that while film piracy is, indeed, a crime, ticket sellers and film producers should also consider the fact that not everyone can afford the price of a ticket. In India, it costs between 250 and 300 Rupees (between $3.75 and $4.50) to buy an entrance ticket at the cinema in a country where wages are for the most part extremely low.

In later tweets in Sanon’s feed, it seems her film is doing well despite the existence of the pirated movie, with a message reading, “Dilwale is highest collecting film in Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, West Indies already! 3rd biggest in Gulf, should cross D3 today to become 2nd best.”

[Photo Kriti Sanon by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Entertainment]

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