Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan has been strongly opposing the levy of 28% Tax under the GST regime for all feature films made in India, including the regional films. He said that the tax slab for regional films should be fixed between 12 to 18% and it is unfair to put them on the highest tax rate. He also threatened to quit cinema if the GST rate for regional films is not changed.

Reacting to this, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley without mentioning the name of Kamal Haasan, said using the media to pressurize the Government will not serve any purpose as this Government cannot be arm twisted. The senior minister however assured that all the representations against GST rates will be looked into.

To the minister's comments, the Ulaganayagan has posted his reply thus:

Not pressurising. It's a plea & SOS from regional cinema to our FM We fear it will collapse.We request the council to do all to save it.

— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) June 5, 2017