Piracy is not only a matter of concern in today's time but also was a matter of concern in the early eighties. In fact this one incident is probably the heights of piracy. The movie in discussion is Laawaris. The story goes that Laawaris had completed 15 weeks in a suburban theater of Mumbai and the print was to be sent back to the distributor's office.

The print left the theater but reached one day late to the office. The reason? Well the employee who was to take the print to the distributor, retained the print at his place that night. He then took the print and gave it to a local Ganpati Pandaal in Ghatkopar which then screened the movie on the road for the public. The movie was a part of the Ganpati celebrations as the festival was going on. The next day the print was delivered by the employee to the distributor's office.

Prakash Mehra was so miffed by this that he sued the cinema hall which had the print and asked for compensation. Now we know where the start of piracy began.