Rajnikanth's latest movie Kabali has been leaked online on Vimeo, a video streaming platform, and the link is being circulated via WhatsApp. According to statistics displayed on Vimeo, the movie has already been viewed (or started) 2.4 million times. MediaNama has verified that the uploaded movie is Kabali, but we're not publishing the link so as to not spread it. A reader pointed out to us that the uploaded video was pre-recorded from inside a theater and not a soft print. The films lead producer Thanu Subramaniam, was unavailable for comment when we tried to contact him. MediaNama has also written to Vimeo to understand if it has received takedown requests from Kabali’s producers. We will update the story once we hear from them. "Vimeo is fully committed to removing infringing content posted by users. We received a takedown notice last night (New York time) from the copyright holder and removed copies of the video first thing this morning," a spokesperson from Vimeo told MediaNama. Vimeo has been blocked many times in India: for example, in May 2012 following a John Doe order taken by Copyright Labs, Chennai, from the Madras High Court, for preventing piracy of Telugu film Dammu and Tamil film 3. Theaters are being particularly careful about Kabali: While attending the film's first show at morning 4:30 AM in local theater in Coimbatore, I wasn't allowed to carry even my smartphone into the venue. This leak comes at a time when the film’s producers sought a restraining order at the Madras High…
