Pirates of Bollywood

A Tale of Piracy and Conspiracy

"Kill Piracy, Save Creativity." Shan, the biggest film producer in Bollywood, launches a first of its kind revolutionary offensive against pirates. It echoes all over India and begins to gain momentum. The pirates are pushed against the wall and brought to their knees everywhere, from courts to streets. Inspired by the overwhelming start, Shan presses ahead for the kill, but the pirates swiftly re-group and launch a vicious counter attack.

Arjun, a gifted and socially conscious Intellectual Property lawyer, acclaimed for his single handed victory in a highly publicized pharma patent case, visits Bombay to represent the Copyleft Foundation, a non profit organisation founded to promote creative freedom. While fighting the top entertainment lawyer in India, Arjun unwittingly pierces the piracy veil, and finds himself in the midst of Shan's war. Motivated to crack the piracy puzzle, Arjun joins forces with Helen, a young, driven officer with the IP Cell of Bombay police, and sets off on a voyage into the dark, dangerous world of piracy.

Set in Bombay, the seat of Bollywood, the novel zooms in on the tussle between film producers, who use copyright as a money making machine, and pirates, who thrive on slavish copying, defiance of copyright law at the core of their business. Court room drama, thrilling sequences, legal insights, and enriching encounters, paint a picture of Bollywood piracy, not too far removed from reality. Adding imagination to experience, Pirates of Bollywood gives wings to a conspiracy theory that underlies the seemingly unstoppable piracy racket.

Advance Review

" ... This copyright law fiction has project piracy as its lodestar, and this book indeed has all the makings of (dare I say) a Bollywood
Masala movie, albeit with the only difference that the author casts his mojo by interweaving the legal aspects of the copyright law debate within its theatrical setting of Bollywood in Mumbai…"

-Shalini Bengani, IP Kat.