which also is exempted from entertainment tax for
carrying out the enormously difficult task of naming
their films in Tamil despite shooting half the portions
in New York, Timbuktu or any corner of the earth except
Tamil Nadu.
According to statistics released, the major beneficiaries
from this announcement for 2010 will include top stars
of the industry like Suriya for Singam and Vijay for
Sura. With both these films coming from the same production
house, there is strong speculation that inside information
from the government sources with which the house has
strong links might have prompted them to name their
films in a favorable manner. But a spokesperson of
the production house vehemently denied this, stating
that is this was the case then their major release
of the year Endhiran could have been named ‘Arima
Arima’ in order to avail tax benefits. On the
contrary, there are sources suggesting that the DVD
release of the film might carry this byline, thus
making it eligible for the exemption.
But there are complaints within the industry that
this information was not made available on larger
basis and so most of the 2010 releases could not take
advantage. However, 2011 will see the industry taking
full advantage of this exemption and also spreading
a lot of awareness. There are at least three major
films at the moment that have appropriate titles to
avail this benefit without any roadblocks; Siruthai
and Vengai are two of these. Taking into account Sura,
Siruthai and Vengai, actress Tamannah who features
in all three has been given special ambassador status.
Henceforth, she will be seen in guest appearances
in all films that carry ‘animal’ titles.
With news of such an exemption becoming common knowledge
there are reports of a scramble among production houses
in order to register all possible animal titles. The
Tamil film industry has set up a special committee
consisting of a member each from the Nadigar Sangam,
Film Chamber, Producers Association, Directors Association
and FEFSI to look into all disputes arising out of
this matter. A special panel of biologists has also
been hired by the Producers Association in order to
suggest suitable zoological names for a film after
listening to a script; even if it does not exist.
Reports are that a small budget film named ‘Naaikutty’
released in 2010 has filed a petition in court after
their application for tax exemption was rejected on
grounds that dogs were not wild animals. The counsel
for the film’s producer argued that even sharks
were not wild animals and still Sura was given the
exemption without any hassles. The counter argument
was that sharks were endangered species according
to the latest Greenpeace reports and thus deserved
equal importance as any other animal. If the ‘Naikutty’
petition indeed succeeds then films under production
like ‘Nadunisai Naaigal’ and ‘Azhgarsaamiyin
Kudirai’ could face a easy path to tax exemption.
It would also ease the shortage of titles, allowing
producers to go for titles like ‘Poonakutty’,
‘Pannikkutty’ etc. But, if the case does
not succeed there are reports that the producer might
change the title of his films to ‘Nadunisai
Onaai’ and ‘Azhagarsaamiyin Kattukudirai’
respectively thus making things easy.
Some producers have shown great imagination in going
for hybrid titles like Singam Puli. This film is now
under consideration to be placed under a special category
which will enable it to get directing funding from
‘Project Tiger’. Further developments
are awaited.
Disclaimer: The article above is purely based
on the imagination of the writer and is not meant
to hurt the sentiments of any section of people, society
or the film fraternity.
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