So this happened yesterday. Times Now prime time TV debate. Host: Anand Narasimhan. I actually like both the channel and the host! They are non-left. They run this hashtag #MersalVendetta and prime time debate at 10 pm (i think it was).
So what is it that they wanted to convey first, and then conduct a debate on concerning this – Mersal Vendetta? Mersal is this Tamil film that released recently. Apparently the film criticizes the current government particularly with GST. Well the Tamil filmstars including Rich & Communist Kamal have been up in arms about GST for films. They were asking – as usual – for exemptions because, the money they make seems to be not enough. Anyways..
In the process of it’s criticism, it seems that the movie also makes some false comparisons & mistaken assumptions. I have to be clear here – I HAVE NOT watched the movie, nor am I this tope expert on GST. Now the BJP instead of shutting the hell up and let the movie pass showing magnanimity (it wasn’t going to play for more than 30 days anyways?), started whinging about it. Bang comes the media & now the whole thing is a mad house.
Right! Diving into the core subject of what happened yesterday… So this Tamil film actor by the name Vishal came in strong support of the movie Mersal. A day or 2 later, some Income Tax sleuths arrived at his door step & pointed to a tax amount he defaulted (his Production Company actually) & questioned him for 3 hours. The media is quite naturally up in arms! Calling this a “bitter & childish act” by the BJP. Basically the media vociferously – questioned “the timing of it”.
Now parallel to this, It appears that some BJP guy from Tamil Nadu said in an interview or in response to the movie actor Vishal while giving a rebuttal – that he “watched the film online”. THAAAAAAAATS IT! Vishal is angry that “how can a guy, a public representative advocate piracy like this?”!!! The concerned BJP guy came up with an explanation that his statement was “misquoted” and that he actually meant that he saw only some clips being circulated online.
So in the TV debate, Vishal is on the show & acting all holy & pious. Anand Narasimhan asks him “do you think the tax raid is a vendetta”. To this, Vishal responds:
“I don’t want to comment on the questioning. The tax has to be paid and that is my liability. And I would not like to go in to it. I just want to stick to the point of piracy. Does the BJP person support piracy”?!
And that’s it.. Anand or anybody on the show would’nt question this guy on why he wouldn’t pay TDS or what were the reasons etc. They just focus on the narrative of “bitter BJP”. Well to be fair, the BJP didn’t have to talk nonsense. But the media should know better?! Mind you.. this debate went on for like 45 MINUTES! NOT ONCE did the news channel try to ask the actor on why he has defaulted his taxes in the 1st place. All of them ganged up on the BJP guy and went on with “do you support piracy.. you do .. you do.. admit it.. how can you support piracy.. why are you taking revenge on actors” blah blah blah!
I was watching the whole thing and wondering:
1. The TDS avoided by the actor is INR 51,00,000 approx. (Acc. to what i watched on the programme)
2. Let us say the said BJP guy didn’t watch it in theatre and watched it online. What is the price of a ticket again? INR 200. Say 100 more people watched along with him – that’d still be 20,000 – not even a decent fraction of 51 lakhs?!!
And these guys in the media don’t give a damn!! They are after the guy who didn’t pay 200 rupees to watch a movie and ignoring the guy who didn’t pay 51 lakhs of taxes. Priorities!
Srinivas Duvvuri's Blog 