'Sultan' leaked online: YRF denies development; cyber crime sleuths say it's on dark net

Was Sultan leaked online a day before its release? Several news reports on Wednesday, 6 July, said that Salman Khan starrer may have been leaked online a day before its release. Spokespersons from Yash Raj Films — the studio that has produced the film — denied the development. [caption id=“attachment_2876374” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Salman Khan in a still from ‘Sultan’. Screengrab from YouTube[/caption] However, cyber crime experts said the leak had taken place. An investigator was quoted as saying that Sultan had been leaked onto the dark web, and would soon be available on Torrent as well. The investigator also added that this was not the full-length film, but a trailer of Sultan that had been “morphed” and made available online. Another cyber crime sleuth shared screenshots from the two-and-a-half hour Salman starrer, that he claimed to have got from an illegal download, with media houses, to raise awareness about the leak. Sources also claimed that the few leaks online were being plugged on a war footing. It was just a few weeks ago that the film Udta Punjab had been leaked online a day before its theatrical release. At the time, the filmmakers had approached the Mumbai Police’s Cyber Crime Cell to have the download links on various sites blocked. The copy that had been leaked online was one the Udta Punjab team had shared with the Central Board of Film Certification for rating purposes. The Sultan leak — if it indeed has occurred — will be the second of its kind this week. The adult comedy Great Grand Masti also had a similar issue, with the entire film (once again, the copy sent to the CBFC) being leaked online. Previously, the CBFC copies of the Marathi film Sairat and Ketan Mehta’s Manjhi: The Mountain Man made their way onto the internet before their theatrical releases, causing losses to the producers.