Following the crackdown on iBomma, actor Chiranjeevi said these piracy sites pose a huge hurdle to filmmakers' efforts to take Telugu cinema global.
“Rajamouli is now about to make such a big film. He wants to take Telugu cinema global. At a time like this, piracy remains such a huge hurdle," the actor said while speaking to reporters on Monday. He was referring to Rajamouli's Varanasi will star Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran in key roles.
Chiranjeevi's remarks came after he, along with SS Rajamouli, Nagarjuna and producer Dil Raju, on Monday evening met Hyderabad city police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar to thank his for the arrest of Immadi Ravi, the brain behind piracy site iBomma.
"I must thank the police for understanding our issues and arresting him," he said after the meeting.
The Telugu superstar said films like his son Ram Charan's Game Changer, his brother Pawan Kalyan's OG, Naga Chaitanya's Thandel and Vijaya Devarakonda's Kingdom witnessed box office losses due to iBomma.
"This individual has caused significant losses to the film industry through the unauthorised distribution of hundreds of films. At the beginning of the year, Game Changer, or throughout the year, Kingdom, Thandel, and OG, all these films faced severe losses at the box office due to this man,” he said.
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan took to X, praising Telangana police. "Arresting the operator of iBomma and Bappam and shutting down these major piracy websites is a welcome development," he said.
The action against iBomma and the arrest of Immadi Ravi came after a June 5 complaint lodged at the Anti-Video Piracy Cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce. The complaint was based on the online leak of Nani's HIT: The Third Case and Sree Vishnu's Single within a day of their release. Another complaint was filed after Kuberaa was leaked.