9 Bollywood Movies That Leaked Before Hitting Theaters

It’s hard to fight cyber mischiefs in the times when your hard worked projects are just a click away to get exposed to the world. Even the worst of films are made with a lot of conviction and if you ever get to ask a filmmaker his biggest fear around his film’s release, the answer will surprise you. In the times of social media and integrated piracy, a film’s failure is only second to the threat of it getting leaked online.

Bollywood however hasn’t had to go through the most turbulent quotient of pre-release piracy as compared to Hollywood since most Hindi films are made available either after they’ve found place in a theater or distributing crew has made a deliberate leak. Leaking the full product online even before its release is a big big deal that we as a unit have to make sure to curb in the coming times. While a lot of Hollywood TV shows and movies have leaked online much before their actual release, we find out if Bollywood too has had to go through similar problems.

Amid the whole Udta Punjab leak controversy, here are 9 Bollywood releases that got leaked even before they could see the light of a film theater:

Tera Kya Hoga Johnny  (2008)

This Sudhir Mishra directorial was set in the city of Mumbai and narrated a story about a child tea seller. Starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, Soha Ali Khan and Kay Kay Menon, the film had premiered in Dubai Film Festival in 2008 and was set to release in India in 2010, however, major parts of the film leaked on Youtube. The leaks made further delay in the release of the film and its box office course was forgettable to say the least.

Paa (2009)

While most of us aren’t aware of this beautiful film getting leaked without entering the theaters, it was one of those fortunate affairs that got away with it without any major dents. The Big B starrer Paa, that did make a lot of news upon its release for its intriguing subject and treatment was found to be in the hands of dealers a night before its release. The film was believed to have been leaked out from the post production.

Paanch

So if you’re one of those Anurag Kashyap fans who waited anxiously for the censors to clear Black Friday may find this news pleasing. His debut film Paanch that never really found the generosity of the censors to earn a passing certificate was later leaked online without any sourcing. The film that is apparently based on the 76-77 Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders had elements that censor thought weren’t suitable for mainstream audiences. The film if dug a little deeper can be found on some of the web portals.

Manjhi: The Mountain Man

One of last year’s encouragingly appreciated movie, this Ketan Mehta directorial was an unfortunate affair to have leaked online almost a week before its release. The Nawazuddin Siddique starrer was a noble effort that deserved some support from the audiences, yet its online leak heavily dented its box office prospects. The film was watched by a major chunk of audiences through the leaked version.

Mohalla Assi

If you’ve had the chance of watching the trailer of this Sunny Deol-Sakshi Tanwar starrer, chances are you probably know why this film couldn’t find any takers. The yet to release project has currently been stayed for release by the court as it contains an expletive theme around the city of Varanasi. Filled with abuses and expletives, the film eventually leaked online and was viewed by a number of people. While frequent complaints by the makers prompted cyber authorities to take the film down, it keeps getting surfaced online every now and then. Considering the hanging fate of the film, may be your best chance to grab a copy is to steal it off the internet.

Udta Punjab

This film appears to have been made to not garner money but controversies, lots of controversies. From censor severity, political antagonism to the latest episode of getting leaked, Udta Punjab has been one hell of an affair. An uncensored copy of the film that apparently has a censor watermark on the print was leaked online 4 days before its release. This probably has to be the biggest leaking episode in terms of people involved with the project are concerned. With the involved set people all being A-listers from within the industry, Udta Punjab’s leaking was rather a shocking piece of episode.

Sultan

One of the biggest films to have leaked online before its release is this Salman Khan starrer Yaashraj Production Sultan. While the film got just about lucky in holding up the leak for long, the film still got available online before its release. 

Great Grand Masti

Another biggie that tragically recently leaked online was Inder Kumar’s Great Grand Masti. While the film is scheduled to hit the screens on July 22, a full high quality uncensored version of the film leaked online. The film in fact is being sold across the countries through CDs and pen drive. It also got available online on torrents and was reportedly downloaded by a number of people. As a result of this chaotic leak, the makers have now decided to come a week before on July 15^th.

Raaz Reboot

The Emraan Hashmi starrer horror drama made for another leaked movie in 2016 that already saw a number of biggies leaking online. Directed by Vikram, the fourth in the franchise of Raaz, Raaz Reboot got leaked online three days before in advance. Emraan himself had to come out on twitter to request people to watch the film in theaters ony. 

As much as we try and make all possible efforts to curb piracy, the facts of the matter do not really take us closer to the real picture. Piracy is a reality and it always will be, but when a hugely devoted strength of work gets leaked online, maybe it’s time the industry sets up better firewalls for themselves.