FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

[arch, 1949 Ifena and Rehana give a dancing duet in "Actress", a social satire produced by Filmistan Ltd. ■ on can be set off against the profits in India and a mer income-tax paid in this country. I The Income-tax authorities thus lose doubly: the B on the profits whilst selling pictures to Pakistan and le. tax on profits in India because of a lower slab ■ached due to the set-off mentioned above. | There is still another angle in this racket of sendU money to Pakistan. Every one knows that some of Ij top-line Muslim actors and actresses receive as Uch as Rs. 50.000 for a single picture and it is also pwn that nearly Rs. 35.000 from this amour.' *<? paid llhlack money. Some of these artistes make as many Weight pictures a year and collect over 4 lakhs of Wees out of which nearly 3 lakhs are black money. II All this black money has to be turned into white n the best way for the Muslim artistes to do this is ■purchase exploitation rights of pictures for Pakistan l| paying their black hoardings and obtaining dupfcfatives of pictures from which copies can be made in Ikistan. Once these pictures reach Pakistan, all their •lections remain in Pakistan and the black money ■jomatically becomes legitimate. This method serves bh the economic and political purposes of these wjslim artistes and saves them from the painful obliga•h of having to pay heavy income-tax in India. It is •J, therefore, surprising to find these days quite a few l^lim film artistes of India becoming film distributors (Pakistan. Indian producers who sell their pictures for Pakis FILMINDIA tan are only too willing to co-operate with these Muslim racketeers and receive two-third of the actual price in black money and the rest on paper, as it saves them also from the higher income-tax slab. It is not therefore strange to find some pictures fetching a price of a lakh and half rupees for Pakistan rights while others are sold for as little as Rs. 40,000 only. The wide gulf between these two price ends provides a pointer to what is actually happening behind the scenes. The standard price for Pakistan rights varies between a lakh and a quarter to a lakh and a half per picture but when purchase agreements are produced with prices near about fifty thousand rupees and often less, it doesn't need much intelligence to imagine that a large part of the price has been paid in black money. There is only one way to avoid this income-tax sabotage so far as pictures are concerned and that is to fix up a standard price for Pakistan rights for taxing purposes and enforce it whenever producers present sale agreements priced below the standard price. As regards the blackmarket money piling up with some of the Muslim artistes who are resorting to all sorts of devices to avoid rightful taxation, it is necessary to take drastic steps and check up their acquisitions in property, ornaments and gold in safe-deposits as also their seasonal remittances to Pakistan through brothers, cousins and in-laws. If some of the Muslim producers and artistes are operating in India with the solitary idea of making money by cashing their popularity and sending such earnings to Pakistan, they must be stopped from doing so to conserve our national economy. If our country, in its present state of poverty, can't afford to spend money and get American goods instead, how can it afford this one-way drain on its economic resources? For. nothing comes back to us in lieu of all the money some of these Muslim film folks send out of India regularly under one excuse or another. SURAIYA A RISKY PACKET ! Pakistan-returned Producer Hasnain of Fazli Brothers is reported to have signed up Suraiya for Rs. 65,000j for his new picture. This is the highest price paid to any artiste during the last two years and is therefore a clear indication of the present boom in motion picture making in India, though the film producers keep shouting about a slump either to extract tax concessions from the Government or to persuade the Income-tax authorities to look at their returns more sympathetically. Surely an industry in slump cannot afford to pay such a huge amount to a single artiste for 3 months of work? Incidentally, this is the sixth simultaneous picture Suraiya will be making and it adds one more producer to her nanny's diary of daily schedule. It is a wellknown fact that Suraiya is a hardworking and punctual girl who works every day of the week including Sundays but formerly while she used to dole out 6 days in a month to every producer, now with Fazli's new contract in hand she will be giving only 5 days a month. If we call this greed on Suraiya's part we would be accused of being unfair as it takes two to make a film