While the entire nation eagerly awaits the Union Budget 2015, Bollywood too is looking forward to the session and hopes that this year Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take the film industry into consideration.
Filmmakers, actors and other members of the film industry expect the the financial viability to be increased, entertainment taxes lowered, and incentives be introduced to promote multiplexes and attract more filmmakers from abroad to invest in Indian films.
"I am sure that this year's budget will have something that will benefit our film industry... attracting people into business is very important part of budget," SRK said during a press conference of his new TV show "Sabse Shana Kaun?"
"Entertainment taxes are killing us. There should be incentives given to us to attract film-makers from abroad to partner with us. We can have collaborations here. We can create an environment that is economically friendly for entertainment industries across the world to come here for film shoots. India has the largest skilled workforce, and some simple measures taken in the right direction can put us on the world map," filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt told Hindustan Times.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap raised the issue of security and censor board targeting their films.
"We pay entertainment tax, VAT (Value-Added Tax), service tax, and some more taxes over and above these. Despite so many taxes, they don't provide security for our movies. They also censor our films and use us as soft targets. The benefit of the industry has been the last priority for the government," he told the daily.
CEO of PVR Pictures, Kamal Gianchandani, said that they are expecting government to make provision for allowing the screening of live performances.
"We have modern digital projection facilities at our cinemas, which enable us to screen live events. Unfortunately, due to censorship regulations, exhibitors are unable to screen live performances, sport events, etc. We request the government to make provisions permitting the same," Gianchandani said.
