James fever sweeps in; political leaders want Puneeth Rajkumar’s film to be declared tax-free
With Puneeth Rajkumar's James getting a thunderous response, political leaders from Karnataka have asked for the film to be shown tax-free.
FollowThe Karnataka government had recently declared Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files tax-free. Now, political leaders from the state are expressing their will for Puneeth Rajkumar’s film ‘James’ to be made tax-free as well. Leader of opposition, Siddaramaiah recalled his association with Dr Rajkumar’s family in the assembly while demanding James to be made tax-free in Karnataka.
Congress’s working president Ramalinga Reddy said that a representation will be submitted to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to ensure that Puneeth Rajkumar’s last film ‘James’ get a waiver on entertainment tax. “Puneeth Rajkumar was a man of good character. He has done a lot of social work but desisted from publicity. The government should make James tax-free,” said Reddy.
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Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee campaign committee chairman MB Patil also took to the microblogging platform Twitter on Thursday to make a similar demand. Noting that the actor’s film has released on the day of his birth anniversary, he made an appeal to the state government to make Puneeth’s last film tax-free. He also said that a lot of Appu’s (as he was lovingly called) have been waiting eagerly to watch him on the screen.
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The state government did only simply declare The Kashmir Files tax-free in Karnataka, but it also arranged for a special screening o the film for all the Members of the Legislative Assembly. The state Congress, on the other hand, is seeking similar treatment to Chethan Kumar’s James.
ALSO READ: James Twitter Review: Fans call Puneeth Rajkumar’s last film his career's best performance
Meanwhile, James opened to thunderous reviews on Thursday as the first show of the film was screened at 6 AM. The theatres across the state, especially Karnataka, saw a wave of emotions as fans cheered the actor’s last film. From bursting firecrackers to performing backflips, showering flower petals, etc was done by the fans. James stars Puneeth Rajkumar in the lead role while Priya Anand has played the female lead in the film. Puneeth’s voice was dubbed by Shivrajkumar.
