It isn’t just box office records that Dabangg is breaking. The 2001 blockbuster is also breaking online piracy records. It was barely hours before the film was circulating in its entirety all over the internet. The numbers went from 50 sites in just 15 hours to over 200 within 72 hours of the film’s release making it the quickest Hindi film to reach the internet in such a short period of time. The number of downloads has totaled up to over 150,000 over a single weekend and at an average ticket price of $10.00, it amounts to $1.5 million dollars or 6.8 Crores.
According to sources, this was clearly expected and is not a surprise at all especially since the film opened to small and big multiplexes all over the world. Analysts claim that the only way to ensure that pirated copies do not circulate so quickly, would be to distribute the film to limited screens. However, this could not be possible with a film like Dabangg which is required to be in all types of cinemas.
Pundits also claim that Dabangg is easily the most downloaded film of all time and “has never been seen before”. However, this can only mean that future big films are open to piracy too and should expect the same.
