Royalty's a dirty word for Surat saree traders
Hiring top Bollywood actresses like Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Neha Dhupia, Rani Mukherjee, Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra and paying them royalties running into lakhs of rupees may be a costly affair for the brand managers of big companies, b...
By Melvyn Thomas, TNN |
SURAT: Hiring top Bollywood actresses like Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Neha Dhupia, Rani Mukherjee, Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra and paying them royalties running into lakhs of rupees may be a costly affair for the brand managers of big companies, but it’s certainly not so for the saree traders of Surat.
They are using photos of these top Bollywood actresses posing in colourful sarees for a few hundred bucks, and that too without bothering to pay any sort of royalty, thanks to the creative minds of the graphic designers who do a complete makeover of the actresses in tops and jeans posing in different styles and forms with colourful sarees.
The photos of these stars are imported from different web sites and then given a digital look in the photoshop version on computers where these actresses are adorned with colourful sarees. And the designers charge anything between Rs 450-500 per photo.
The graphic designing industry is gaining popularity among the saree traders in the textile markets located in the city. Sources said there are about 200-odd graphic designers who are into this business for the last 4-5 years and their annual turnover could be around Rs 2-3 crore.
Veenita Banger, VP (celebrity management) of the Mumbai-based Percept Demark which is managing actresses like Priyanka Chopra and Ayesha Takia, says: “Advertisers pay the royalty to actresses and thus can use their photos. But those who are not paying the royalty and using the photos should be prosecuted.”
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About the illegal use of the photos, a graphic artist explained that the Bollywood stars charge anything between Rs 5-6 lakh for a photo session, which is very costly for small-time traders. Hence, the craze for graphic designers. Agrees a saree trader, “We cannot afford spending much on the advertisements.”The police, on its part, is waiting for an FIR to be filed to act against the offenders. “It is illegal. We cannot book anyone directly, but some individual or an actress has to lodge a complaint against these traders for using the photos to promote their products,” said commissioner of police Sudhir Sinha.
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