Ahead of Diwali movie releases, the striking film fraternity on Tuesday pinned its hopes on a meeting with the chief minister Edapaddi Palanisami for rolling back the local taxes on film tickets.

As per the local tax imposed, Tamil movie tickets attracts 10 per cent tax and other language films 20 per cent. “This is crippling the film industry and movie business,” said a film theatre owner, who says what can they do if new films are not getting released. Higher film tickets will surely affect the film business as viewers would be tempted to go for alternatives – watching downloaded films.

On Tuesday, film fraternity delegation, led by actor and president of Nadigar Sangam, Vishal, called on two state ministers and requested the government for a roll back of the decision on local tax. As per the film industry sources, the delegation is likely to get time from chief minister.

“We hope for a positive decision from the chief minister,” said Vishal after he came out of the meeting with the ministers.

“We may get the good news tomorrow or the day after,” Vishal said after meeting officials and ministers. MLA and actor Karunas was also part of the delegation that met the state ministers K Raju and SP Velumani.

The delegation has reminded the government that no other state government in the country has imposed a local tax, over and above the GST, on film theatres. The additional tax of 10 per cent is unacceptable.