At a crucial moment during the 16th meeting of ministers convened to thrash out the details of India's biggest tax overhaul since it became an independent nation, the infuriated finance minister of West Bengal began to read out names of successful Indian film directors.
"Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen: all the Indian film directors who have won international awards have been from regional cinema," Amit Mitra told his fellow finance ministers. "If we tax cinema tickets at 28 per cent [the top rate under the new tax] we are going to kill off this industry, and then there won't be any more awards."
His impassioned plea worked. That evening, cheaper cinema tickets were included on a list of 66 items on which tax rates would be cut under the new goods and services tax.
