In a historic decision, yesterday, 8th November 2016, Indian Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced a new plan to crub black money in the country. They attacked the stashed reserves of 500 and 1000 ruppee notes that are lying in the houses of corrupt officers and money landers. Real estate, politicians and financiers were badly affected by this move. All 500 and 1000 Rs notes have seized to exist and they are considered illegal tender from 9th November.
There were lot of repercussions with common people panicking and government gave them and everyone a respite, that new notes of 500 and 2000 will come into existence however limited. And the deposits were not capped but there are existing laws against depositing more than 2 to 5 lacs in savings accounts. So, those who did not want to pay taxes for the amount, stashed them up in various vaults at their homes, Farmhouses, etc. Now, all that money has turned into useless pieces of paper. Still they can be brought into use if the people decide to pay taxes and show proper channels.
The sudden move without any media leakage came as a surprise for many and film business in India, that depends on Financiers and Real Estate Agents who use black money stashes to pay the large sums are affected by this the most. Producers who are waiting to pay the large amounts of money back and remunerations are in tension about their properties and movie releases. While it is mostly welcomed move, with Demonetization people are more worried about paying the money in 100s and getting the new notes.
So, will they be interested to watch movies during this month, mainly between 11th to 30th of November has become a major question of the releases that are planned during these dates. While, producers of Sahasam Sawasaga Saagipo are going ahead with the release, the other medium budget movie, Intlo Deyyam Nakem Bhayyam producers are in a dilemma. They have already pushed their release by a day to 12 Nov but are highly doubtful if people will turn out at box office counters to watch the film. May be debit and credit card users, might find it nothing new, but people with hard cash and where they don’t use plastic money, especially in rural areas might not turn out to watch films trying to get the legal tender before.
With few movies already announced, and financier dependent are already in jeopardy, the releases are also thinking twice before they try to release the movie.
