'Kangana's house was demolished under...': FM Sitharaman fires back at Jaya Bachchan

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday hit back at Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan’s claims that the government was ignoring the film industry, pointing out how the industry had been mistreated under the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government supported by her party.

Referring to the 2020 demolition of actor Kangana Ranaut’s property, Sitharaman said, "The MVA Govt, her alliance partner, in September 2020 in Mumbai, intimidated Ranaut. In a notice of 24 hours, demolished her office until the Bombay High Court intervened."

"Jaya Bachchan should be talking to her alliance parties about how the film industry is being ignored, how they are being put to suffering," the finance minister said while replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha.  

Bringing up historical instances of mistreatment in the film industry, Sitharaman reminded Bachchan of incidents involving prominent figures. "I don't need to go back to talking about how Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Lata Mangeshkar's brother, could not even work in All India Radio. He was fired because he was composing and singing not to please Congress. Also, Majrooh Sultanpuri was jailed in 1949 and Dev Anand was threatened for not supporting the emergency. And Kishore Kumar was also out in jail." 

Jaya Bachchan had earlier urged the government to "show mercy" toward the film industry, warning that rising costs and declining footfall in cinemas were driving single-screen theatres out of business. "Perhaps you want to kill this industry altogether," she said during the general discussion on the Union Budget 2025–26 in the Rajya Sabha.

Responding to Bachchan’s concerns about entertainment tax, Sitharaman clarified that the Centre does not levy an entertainment tax. "There is no entertainment tax levied by the Union Government. It was previously levied by state governments and has now been subsumed under GST. State governments can still make laws on entertainment tax, as it remains a state subject," she explained.

Sitharaman highlighted that GST on movie tickets had actually been reduced. "Before GST, taxes on entertainment services averaged around 30%, with some states imposing entertainment tax as high as 100% on movie tickets. After multiple GST Council discussions, we reduced GST on movie tickets in 2018. Tickets priced above ₹100 now attract only 18% GST, down from 28%, while tickets below ₹100 are taxed at 12%, reduced from 18%."

Sitharaman also rejected Bachchan’s claim that people had stopped watching movies due to high costs. She pointed to the growth of India’s OTT sector, citing it as a game-changer for the entertainment industry. "Disney+ Hotstar has 400 million active users. Netflix has 3+ million paid subscribers, while Amazon Prime Video has 4.4 million. According to an EY report, India’s OTT market is projected to hit $12.5 billion by 2030, with 448 million OTT viewers already—second only to China."