Mumbai, Mar 19: Savita Raj Hiremath, one of the producers of megastar Amitabh Bachchan's "Jhund", has said that she is "perplexed" why her film was not made tax-free as it not only witnessed positive audience reaction but also had a subject that is "crucial to our country's growth".
"Jhund", which released theatrically on March 4 to glowing reviews, featured Bachchan as Vijay Barse, a Nagpur-based retired sports teacher who pioneered a slum soccer movement.
The movie marked the Hindi debut of filmmaker Nagraj Manjule, known for his acclaimed Marathi films "Fandry" and "Sairat".
A week after "Jhund", filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri's "The Kashmir Files", based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s, opened in cinemas.
The film garnered support from the central government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who endorsed the movie.
"The Kashmir Files", featuring Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi, was also declared tax-free in states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Karnataka, Tripura and Goa.
On Friday, Hiremath took to Facebook and wrote that while "The Kashmir Files" is an important film, "Jhund" was no less.
"I recently watched 'Kashmir Files' and as the story of Kashmiri Pandits exodus it's heartbreaking and is a story that needed to be told. It is a good voice for Kashmiri Pandits!
"But as the producer of 'Jhund', I am perplexed. After all, 'Jhund', is also an important film and has a story and a big message that has received tremendous acclaim and word of mouth from the audience," she said.
"Jhund" is also produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Raaj Hiremath, Gargee Kulkarni, Meenu Aroraa and Manjule.
Hiremath further wrote she was curious to know what is the criteria for the government to select a film and exempt it from entertainment tax.
"So I want to find out what's the criterion on which the government selects a film to support it so strongly by making it tax free, endorsing it through social media and asking Offices to showcase the film or give a half day holiday to its employees.
"After all 'Jhund' also has a subject that is so crucial to our country's growth. 'Jhund' is not just talking about the disparity between caste and economic disparity but also shows a way to make the lower strata of society find their success story," she added.
While "The Kashmir Files" has clocked in approximately Rs 116 cr at the box office, "Jhund" has netted more than Rs 15 cr so far.
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None of Adani portfolio companies subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US
New Delhi, Nov 23: None of Adani group portfolio companies, comprising 11 listed firms, have been accused of any wrongdoing, conglomerate's CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said on founder and chairman Gautam Adani's indictment on bribery charges in the US.
In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets counsel approvals.
Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that were expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US has also charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global, for "conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme".
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing," Singh said.
He hastened to add that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".
The CFO, who was the first line of defence when US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of fraud in January 2023, said the group became aware of the "specificity" of the US indictment against founder and chairman Gautam Adani two days ago.
"We were aware that something is afoot (and in February 2024 144a offering circular in Risk Factors we disclosed as such. This was the first public issuance of any of our portfolio companies or their subsidiaries or joint venture companies after our annual results of 31st March 2023)," he said.
He, however, did not state what the company had disclosed in February 2024.
Adani Group, he said, has a portfolio of 11 public companies and "none are subject to indictment (i.e. defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC)".
"None of the issuers (i.e. companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing," he said.
The indictment "relates to one contract of Adani Green, which is roughly 10 per cent of overall business of Adani Green (there is a lot more precise and comprehensive detail of this which we will elaborate in an appropriate forum)," he said.
The statement comes two days after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million (about RS 2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing (Please note that no court has ruled on this and as outlined by lawyers of DOJ these are 'allegations and accused have a presumption of innocence'). We will make a more detailed comment once we get counsel approvals to discuss what we can in public on a matter that is sub-judice," he added.
