Director Krish's Gautamiputra Satakarni (GPSK) has landed in a controversy after Captain L Panduranga Reddy demanded the Telangana government withdraw the tax exemption for the movie.
The historians claimed that Gautamiputra Satakarni is a historically inaccurate movie. Hence, the Telangana government's decision to make it tax-free is not right. The members of Voice of Telangana, Hyderabad Deccan Democratic Alliances and few other groups held a news conference in Hyderabad. Addressing the media, they demanded an immediate withdrawal of the tax sop for the movie.
Captain L Panduranga Reddy, the president of Voice of Telangana, said that Gautamiputra Satakarni is not a historical film, but a fictional one. "We have no problem with the film if they stop claiming it as a historical film. They must admit that it is a fictional movie," Deccan Chronicle quoted Reddy as saying.
Panduranga Reddy said that Gautamiputra Satakarni is misleading the film goers as the emperor of Satavahana was not a Telugu. "In fact, there is a wrong notion that the Satavahanas were Telugu people; for a long time, they had ruled their kingdom from an area, which is currently in Maharashtra," he said.
Panduranga Reddy went on to point more factual errors and said the kings of the Satavahana dynasty had ruled their kingdom from Paithan and not Kotilingala. The film includes the use of stirrups by horse riders, which were not known to Indians at that time. Demitrius is seen fighting against Gautamiputra Satakarni, but he was not a contemporary of Satakarni as there exists a gap of hundreds of years.
"It was Rudradaman, a Saka ruler from Western Kshatrapa dynasty, who defeated Pula-mavi and pushed him down to the south — coastal AP. As a result, Pulamavi made Dhara-nikota his capital. This means Pulamavi came to Andhra as a fugitive, not as a conqueror, which is what the film tries to convey," he said.
However, entertainment tax is 15 percent in Telangana and exemption of this tax has boosted the collection of Gautamiputra Satakarni in the state. Now, it should be seen whether Telangana government will withdraw the exemption of the entertainment tax for Nandamuri Balakrishna's 100th movie.
