He’s basking in the success of his latest release but Udhayanidhi Stalin still has reason to worry. Reason? His film has not been granted tax exemption, thus resulting in a 30 per cent loss for him from the collections.


“The seven-member committee has rejected the film as not being fit for tax exemption. When we asked them, they said it was pressure from his higher authorities,” he stated at a press meet recently, “Though I hail from a political family, I concentrate only on my films. I’m being unnecessarily dragged into this issue by the authorities. There is political vendetta in this decision and this will affect not just me but a whole lot of distributors and theatre owners as well.”

The actor-producer is also peeved that while other films have got the same exemption, his film has been deemed not fit for the same. “I don’t want to hurt some other producers but another recently-released film has an entire song in English and that has been given tax exemption,” he stated.

His last film as producer, 7aum Arivu, faced a similar situation. “That film was given the tax benefit only after it ran for 125 days or so. It was almost as if the authorities were adamant that we shouldn’t receive any benefit,” he signs off.