I-T hopes to raise Rs 30-cr tax from 3 Idiots producer

MUMBAI: The Income-Tax authorities expect to raise nearly Rs 30 crore from Vidhu Vinod Chopra — the Bollywood film producer, whose recently-produced movie 3 Idiots emerged as the highest grosser in the history of Hindi cinema — for his income in 2009-10. An I-T official, who did not wish to be named, said Mr Chopra visited the I-T department last week to sort out issues related to his income tax payment. He is expected to pay the last instalment of advance tax by March 15.

When contacted, Mr Chopra told ET: ”I am happy that I am paying the largest tax paid by a film producer ever. But the tax amount may not be exactly Rs 30 crore, probably a little less than that.” The I-T department in Mumbai has a special cell called ‘film circle’ for exclusively dealing with film-related assessments. A senior I-T official, who is a part of ‘film circle’, said “As far as the tax receipts from the film industry are concerned, we had a lean period for some time. Now 3 Idiots has brought the lean period to an end.”

According to the reports received by the department, Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots has generated a record Rs 240 crore from box office collections in the domestic and the international markets during the first 10 days of exhibition. Made with a budget of Rs 45 crore, it has already generated over five times what Mr Chopra, had invested in the film.