Mukesh Bhatt likely to get Bollywood superstars in fight against GST

Film producer Mukesh Bhatt, in a closed-door meeting with film producers, proposed that they should involve Bollywood stars to represent the finance ministry to reduce their GST slab.

Mukesh proposed this at a meeting where filmmakers like Sajid Nadiadwala, and representatives from film studios like Reliance Entertainment and Fox Star Studios and multiplex majors were present. “Mukesh was of the opinion that big stars should talk to Arun Jaitley, the Finance minister, and probably even sit down and explain to him why the slab should be reduced. It would seriously affect filmmaking costs and deplete the filmmakers,” informs trade pundit Atul Mohan.

Mukesh also informed that he would talk to all the stars he is close to, for spearheading the cause. Names like Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan were discussed at the meeting. Interestingly, Amitabh, Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan, among others, are all big producers as well.

Unlike the Tamil film industry, where stars like Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth have spoken strongly against the state government’s move to impose additional 30 per cent tax to the GST of 28 per cent, Bollywood stars have not spearheaded the move. In fact, the entertainment tax for them stood at 40 per cent earlier, and has come down to 28 per cent now.

The film producers’ community is also disturbed by the fact that a lot of stars, who are producers themselves, are currently not part of the team opposing GST. Source from the industry inform that the taxes may go up from September with the Maharashtra government planning to impose further tax. “I am also very surprised that a lot of stars are not coming out on their own. Maybe they are not quite aware of what the implications are,” says Mohan.

The film producers now hope that with a big star leading their cause, the people in the place of power will take notice.