Pakistani films have made it to the local cinemas and have started screening after a long hiatus following the global pandemic. However, filmmakers are facing newer challenges everyday and the most recent and absurd one is piracy through an online shopping portal. It was recently found that a pirated version of Nabeel Qureshi’s recent film — Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad — was illegally sold on Daraz and this is just ridiculous.
The film is currently screening in cinemas nationwide but sellers on Daraz are selling bootlegged copies of the film for as low as PKR 20. On Thursday, Nabeel shared a screenshot of the film on sale and wrote: “This is criminal! Daraz is selling our film Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad’s pirated version officially on their website while the film is playing in cinemas across Pakistan. This is damaging the cinema and film industry, it’s alarming.”
The filmmaker tweeted that the production house for the movie, Filmwala Pictures, is going to take strict action against it.
This is criminal ! @darazpk is selling our film #quaideazamzindabad pirated version Officially on their website, while the film is playing in cinemas across pakistan, this is damaging the cinema and film industry, its alarming @FilmwalaP going to take strict action against it. pic.twitter.com/8RMMYLCtH1
— Nabeel Qureshi (@nabeelqureshi) August 18, 2022
Mahira Khan who stars in the film alongside Fahad Mustafa also raised her voice against this illegal act.
She retweeted Nabeel Qureshi’s tweet regarding the situation and wrote: “Oh my God! This is absolutely ridiculous!”
Oh my GOD! This is absolutely ridiculous!! @darazpk !! https://t.co/IHEKC1Oyfj
— Mahira Khan (@TheMahiraKhan) August 18, 2022
Read: Haute Review: Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad brings the police force in light with swag
Hi Mahira,
This was allegedly uploaded by a seller and has been removed from the platform as soon as our compliance team picked it up. We also delist these sellers regularly from the platform. Daraz, in any way does not support plagiarism or any such violations.
— Daraz (@darazpk) August 18, 2022
However, like many other voices on social media, it is a point of concern that the platform only noticed piracy on their website when Nabeel Qureshi’s tweet gained social media attention. Hopefully, Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad will be the first and the last film that suffered from this unfortunate fate.
