Madras High Court Refuses Tax Relief For Chiyaan Vikram Starrer I

The Madras High Court on Friday quashed a petition seeking entertainment tax exemption for Tamil Film I starring Chiyaan Vikram and Amy Jackson. The petition was filed in the HC by Sri Vijayalakshmi Films, which acquired the distribution rights of the film for Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. The Union Territory of Puducherry refused to exempt Sri Vijayalakshmi film from entertainment tax, after which the distributor decided to move to court.

When the petition came up for hearing before Justice SM Subramaniam, counsel T Ravichandran, representing the petitioner, argued that the decision made by the Union Territory of Puducherry administration not allowing tax exemption for the film was incorrect as the title of the film was in Tamil, which allowed it to be exempted from tax. He said that the word I could be used as an exclamation or expression of astonishment in Tamil and hence the film should be exempted. It was further argued that because the petitioner utilised the Tamil word I in wall posters, advertisements and promotional campaigns, they should be exempted from paying entertainment tax.

Senior attorney B Ramaswamy, who represented the government of Puducherry, disputed this. He argued that the petition could not be entertained because theatre owners and not distributors were given an exemption from paying entertainment tax. The petitioner, in this case Sri Vijayalakshmi Films being the distributor, could not claim exemption from tax.

After hearing both sides, Justice SM Subramaniam said that the government exempts entertainment tax as a concession to encourage naming of films in Tamil. He added that the concession cannot be claimed as a right. He also said that one has to pay entertainment tax according to law and dismissed the petition of Sri Vijayalakshmi Films, stating that the court cannot order exemption from entertainment tax just because a Tamil word has been used in the title of the film.

The film was a big hit when it was released in 2015. The movie was notorious for depicting Vikram in a highly disfigured appearance, a result of a medical conspiracy against him, according to the narrative of the film.

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