Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council and Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association have urged Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to roll back the 30 per cent corporation tax imposed on cinema halls.
Around 1,000 cinema theatres in Tamil Nadu reamained shut today to protest the tax. The industry demand includes exemption of 30 per cent corporation tax imposed or increase the cap on ticket pricing, which stands ₹120.
Abirami Ramanathan, president, Tamil Nadu Theatres Owners Federation, said that with the current tax structure cinema halls would have to pay a tax of over 60 per cent, which includes 30 per cent corporation tax and 18-28 per cent GST. “This move will destroy the industry and other 10 lakh people dependent on it,” he said.
In a press release, Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council had appealed to theatre owners not to cancel the shows as it would affect around 20 producers.
In the meantime, support poured in from celebrities in the social media platform twitter. Lyricist and dialogue writer Madhan Karky tweeted: ‘Until the revision, I am willing to reduce 15 per cent off my remuneration for songs and dialogues, if that would help the industry.’
Director Shankar, whose movie Enthiran 2.0 will be released in 2018, tweeted: ‘48-58 per cent is too much tax. Save Tamil Cinema’.
Dhananjayan Govind, whose movie Ivan Thantiran was released last week, tweeted that he is a state of shock as his movie will not be in theatres due to protest. #SaveTamilCinema was trending the whole day.