How will Bengali cinema survive with 28% GST rate, asks producer

The decision to put cinema tickets under the 28 per cent tax bracket in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has raised questions over the survivability of Bengali films.

"28% GST on movie ticket is shocker. 14 times more than the current rate for bengali films. How will industry survive!!??," tweeted producer Mahendra Soni, co-founder of Shree Venkatesh Films, which has at least 100 movies to its credit including National Award winners "Chokher Bali" (late Rituparno Ghosh) and "Memories in March".

Soni's views were endorsed by filmmakers Srijit Mukherji and Kaushik Ganguly in retweets.