Tax-Free movies
The Hindi film industry or the Bollywood encourages some movies to be tax-free to attract large number of audience. Such exemptions are basically given for movies which convey a social message or are exemplars of bold and brave actions which can bring about a change in the society.
No entertainment-tax is levied on movies which leave a direct positive impact on the minds of people. The tax-free attempt enables larger audiences to watch and support the hard-hitting message conveyed through the film.
Till date, taxes have been exempted on many movies like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Mardaani, Filmistaan and Katiyabaaz.
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• For example, the movie, Mary Kom has been declared tax-free in Maharashtra. Produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and directed by Omung Kumar, the movie is a biopic on the world champion boxer, Mary Kom. The tax exemption on this film will attract a larger crowd in theatres. The boxer has made a lot of sacrifices to achieve where she is today and so, it is important to make the nation aware of such souls.
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• Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is another such example portrayed on the athlete-Milkha Singh. The movie was tax exempted in many states of the country like Maharashtra, Goa, Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
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• The recent movie, Mardaani also witnessed tax exemption by various state governments like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The movie which is based on the issue of child trafficking in India was declared tax-free. Bihar even organized a two-day workshop to curb human trafficking case and a free screening of the movie was conducted for all the policemen of the state on the occasion.
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• Katiyabaaz, a national award winning documentary is another such movie in the list. Jointly directed by Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa, the documentary features a battle between a ‘Katiyabaaz’ and an IAS officer to outsmart each other while the city of Kanpur faced its biggest power crisis. The Uttar Pradesh government had asked all the engineers of the power department to watch the movie and draw inspiration from it to stop illegal connections.
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• Filmistaan which delves on the idea of binding India and Pakistan through Bollywood was declared tax-free in Maharashtra and other states.
• Few years back, the Gujarat government declared Paa as tax-free in the state. Taxes were exempted from Paa as it was based on the socially relevant subject of physically challenged people.
Apart from attracting people to theatres, such moves taken by the government also encourages the directors and producers to make more and more movies based on social issues. Besides, it also creates awareness among common masses who usually watch commercial films in theatres.
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