Thappad: Taapsee Pannu's upcoming film gets three-month tax exemption in Madhya Pradesh

The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday announced a three-month exemption from the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) to Tapsee Pannu’s film Thappad. The film, directed by Anubhav Sinha, deals with the issue of domestic violence and is set to release on Friday. A top official of the Commercial Tax Department said the film was exempted from SGST in view of its subject and message. [caption id=“attachment_7990481” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Taapsee Pannu in a still from Thappad. YouTube[/caption] Single-screen cinemas and multiplexes have been asked not to collect SGST on tickets of the film, the official said. At present, film tickets carry 18 percent GST – SGST and Central Goods and Services Tax at nine per cent each. In the film, Pannu plays an upper-middle class educated woman who is forced to continue in her marital relationship even after her husband slaps her. Pannu was among members of the film fraternity who had condemned police crackdown on students of Jamia Milia Islamia while accusing the government of trying to stifle the voices of dissent against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Recently, Deepika Padukone’s Chhapaak was declared tax-free in Madhya Pradesh even as BJP supporters called for a boycott of the film over the actor’s support for the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University who were attacked by masked goons.