Double Taxation in the State :
Producers of Tamil movies that has been scheduled for release this Friday is very upset over the decision was taken by the producer’s council to stall the release of Tamil Films from tomorrow. Tamil Nadu government decided to impose a Local Body Tax of 10 % over the already existing GST for all the movies that are releasing within the state. The decision was announced on 30th of September this year.
Following the announcement from the TN Government, the producer’s council and the Multiplex Association within released a statement that they are unhappy with the decision of the government and that they will respond in a day or two. After meeting with their members both the association came up with a decision that came as a shock to the producers who were expecting their movie release this weekend.
Tamil Film producer’s council headed by Vishal decided to stall the release of the new Tamil movies that were scheduled for the month of October until an amicable solution is provided by the state government. The multiplex association of India decided to shut their doors from tomorrow until State Government decides to revise the additional entertainment tax. Major multiplexes in the city such as PVR and INOX come under this association and have declared that they will remain shut until further notice.
Tamil Nadu, the only state to come up with local entertainment tax:
A similar situation happened in the month of July too when the state government decided to impose an additional tax of 28% over the already existing 30% GST. The producer’s council and the theatre associations from across the state staged a bandh for more than a day until the state government agreed to revise the tax.
After a brief period, the state government has reduced the number from 28 % to 10 % under the name of “Local Body Entertainment Tax”. Tamil Nadu has become the only state to imply entertainment tax after the imposition of GST across the nation from the month of June. It has also added that other language films will have a tax of 20% over the existing GST.
This move was not much welcomed by the producers and distributors of other languages and they decided to respond by not releasing the upcoming films within the state until the further decision is arrived upon. Sony Entertainment became the first company to stall the release of the much awaited film Blade Runner 2049 within the state after the issue of double taxation.
Producers and directors reaction:
Other producers who are expecting the release of their movies this weekend have expressed distress over the decision. Bejoy Nambiar who co-produced and directed the film Solo has expressed grief stating that he had high hopes for the movie and the sudden decision to stop the screening of the movie will affect his movie very badly. Solo was made as a bilingual movie that was produced in Malayalam and Tamil languages.
According to the statement released by Bejoy he tried to stop the release of his movie in both the languages as soon as the announcement from multiplex association came. But it was too late then since the prints have all been delivered and the movie had a release today. The movie had a grand release in Kerala given the star status of the actor in the state, but unfortunately, the movie will have a run for only one day in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Another movie that was expecting a release this weekend is Vizhithiru which was directed and produced by ‘Meera Kathiravan’. Vizhithiru has Venkat Prabhu, Krishna, Vidharth, Sai Dhanshika and Erica Fernandes. Meera Kathiravan expressed his dissatisfaction with the sudden decision taken by the council since all the money that has been put in promoting the film will be given for a toss. Vizhithiru movie was supposed to have a grand release in the state tomorrow.
