The GST on Kannada film ticket of over Rs.100 is at 18% and this is after 21 years Kannada film viewers are paying tax for entertainment. The Karnataka state has announced 100 percent entertainment tax exemption 21 years ago besides the subsidy on quality films at the rate of Rs.10 lakhs per film. As of now it is giving subsidy of Rs.10 lakhs to 125 Kannada films. The recent announcement of government to fix Rs.200 as maximum ticket price in multiplex is another blow to Kannada films. In multiplex it will be Rs.236 for Kannada films. In the normal cases the ticket prices at multiplex was around 80 to 150 rupees. It is a big blow to watch Kannada films in multiplex today.

The 18 rupees excess on Rs.100 per ticket has severely affected the audience from this Friday because six new films got released.

It was during the HD Deve Gowda as chief minister of state (he later became Prime Minister) in 1996, 100 percent entertainment tax exemption relief was announced to Kannada films.

For non Kannada films in Karnataka it is a boon. Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, English and other languages films having good market in Karnataka will be paying 2 percent less compared to the earlier tax structure of 30 percent.

Especially for Tamil films it is feasible to watch Tamil films in Karnataka. It is 58 percent tax structure on ticket price in Tamil Nadu. Whereas it is 28 percent for Tamil films in Karnataka.