Chopra inaugurates IFFI, rues step-motherly treatment

Panaji: Veteran Bollywood director Yash Chopra today inaugurated the 41st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here and took the opportunity to criticise the government`s "step-motherly" attitude towards the movie industry.

The government-imposed taxes are proving the death knell of the film industry, said the Dada Saheb Phalke winner who along with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and actor Ajay Devgn were the chief guests at the ceremony. "The industry is going great guns but we must ask ourselves what the government is doing for us? Why are they treating the Indian film industry in such a step-motherly fashion," asked the filmmaker who is the man behind Bollywood`s most influential production houses, `Yash Raj Films`. "The government is bent on implementing all these taxes, service tax, copyright, VAT, stamp duty. If these taxes keep coming it will be very difficult to make films. In 2013, we are celebrating the 100 years of Indian cinema but it may be too late. We may be writing our obituary. These are hard facts. The government must take notice," said Chopra, who has directed and produced ever green films like "Deewar", "Kabhi Kabhie", "Lamhe" and "Dil To Pagal Hai" among others. Mamata Banerjee seconded Chopra and said that she would personally take up the issue of taxation with Finance Minster Pranab Mukherjee. "I think Yash Chopra ji is correct. There is too much taxation, which comes under the finance ministry. I will take up the issue with Pranab da. There will be no dadagiri," she said. The film extravaganza was kicked off with a screening of the the hit British film "West is West" and will go on to showcase 300 films from 61 countries. The inaugural was attended by other Bollywood biggies including Subhash Ghai and Rajkumar Hirani. The "3 Idiots" director Hirani, actor Manoj Bajpai and actress Divya Dutta were felicitated at the event but the reason for their felicitation was not mentioned. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said that Goa has become one of the prime entertainment destinations with films like "Golmaal 3" and "Guzaarish" being shot there. He said his government was working towards making shooting in the state easy for filmmakers and to encourage directors to showcase the local art and culture in their films. This year at IFFI, films from Canada, US and other European countries are vying for the top awards as opposed to earlier when the competition section was open only to films from Asia, Africa and Latin America. PTI