Vishal

Vishal

It was when the last time theaters have been closed indefinitely? No one could answer this because it has never happened before in Tamilnadu. But soon after the night when GST was inaugurated theaters in Tamilnadu are facing a major crunch. Ramanathan, chief of Tamil Film chamber of commerce wants the local body entertainment tax of 30% to be scrapped immediately. He also said “If we screen movies, we have to pay local body taxes immediately as it came into force from yesterday. We are closing since there is no other way out,” Though the Tamilnadu film exhibitors association had decided on Friday to cancel shows from 3rd of July (Monday), almost thousand theaters are closed since yesterday. Ramanathan also added “The local body tax of 30 percent in addition to GST tax rate of 28 percent for tickets priced over Rs.100 and 18 percent for tickets priced less than 100.” Since the new GST policy has created a huge impact on the film industries, many film stars are ready to support the film industry. When actor director Kamal Hassan was one of the first celebrities to voice against this now Lyricist Madhan Karky, composer Harris Jayaraj and director Shankar have voiced their views in Twitter. Lyricist Madhan Karky says ‘Until the revision, I am willing to reduce 15% off my remuneration for songs and dialogues, if that would help the industry.’ Music Composer Harris Jayaraj says ‘Never thought the GST will crush the 10 Lakhs family of Tamil Cinema along with others. Time to speak or never.’ And director Shankar says ‘48-58%.. too much tax.. save Tamil cinema!’ Many other celebrities have voiced against the new entertainment tax. Closing down thousand theaters indefinitely left the cinema lovers in disbelief and it has also affected so many families who worked in theaters.