Tamil title & ‘U’ certificate, yet no tax exemption for Papanasam

The Kamal Haasan starrer Papanasam has been rejected tax exemption by the Tamil Nadu government. This is despite the fact that a Tamil film which has a Tamil title and awarded U Certification is eligible for tax exemption.

When Papanasam came up for tax exemption, the committee members raised objections to many depictions in the movie and refused to grant the entertainment tax exemption claimed by the filmmakers.

One aspect of the movie that had influenced the panelists in deciding against exemption was the fact that the protagonist (Kamal) wants to save his family from a crime they had indeed committed — an act that should have been met with some form of vindication, according to the panelists. The movie also projects cops in a poor light and there's a scene where a young boy takes obscene pictures of a girl student while she is bathing, which according to the panelists will set a bad precedent for society.

They also objected to the excessive violence exerted by the police on children, during an interrogation sequence.One of the committee members, yesteryear’s singer A L Raghavan’s comments in the GO read: “I do agree that Papanasam is a Tamil title and it has got a U certification and it has hardly any crass elements. But the scene where a young boy films a young girl bathing in the nude and tries to use it to blackmail her, and the scene where policemen treat young children ruthlessly to extract the truth, is causing concern. These scenes should be removed, and any wrongdoer should be punished.” He recommended against permitting the tax exemption.