The owners of over 1,100 cinema halls in Chennai are on strike. The reason? In addition to the GST (28 percent for tickets priced over Rs 100 and 18 percent for tickets below Rs 100), theatre owners now have to pay an additional 30 percent ‘Municipal Tax’. Basically this means an additional tax of Rs 68 on a ticket that costs Rs 120.
Theatre owners and producers have asked the state government to remove the Municipal Tax (newly named, so as to make it exempt from being eliminated by the GST). They also want a regularisation of ticket prices, which have not seen any significant change in over a decade.
But what about the hapless public? What will the teens who bunked classes do now? Where will all the couples go? What happens to the people who seek out dark, cool movie theatres to escape the summer heat and catch a few winks? Watch the ‘trailer’, to understand the plight of the Tamil audience.
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