The movement-cinema of Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri The Kashmir Files is becoming increasingly popular. Following Haryana’s lead, the states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh proclaimed The Kashmir Files tax-free on Sunday. Here are five additional famous films that saw a surge in box receipts after being proclaimed tax-free.

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017): The first film of the post-GST era to receive a tax exemption in Uttar Pradesh, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha tackled the societal problem of women’s privacy when it came to answering nature’s call. For as long as the film was being marketed, Akshay Kumar has been a strong advocate for the subject. Director Shree Narayan Singh and his team moved on after the film’s release. Airlift, by far the greatest film the actor has done in his career, was another Akshay atma-vishwas tale that received a boost following tax relief.

Chhapaak (2019): How much better this heartbreaking film would have worked if it had starred Laxmi Aggarwal, the real victim, rather than Deepika Padukone, who feigned the victim’s genuine distress. Deepika’s name had to be altered to Malti since the original victim had disassociated herself from the project. In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the tax exemption appears to have been given solely on humanitarian grounds.

Tanhaji (2020): The heroic Maratha warrior’s narrative inspired a strong feeling of nationalism, particularly in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana governments jumped on the bandwagon, declaring the film tax-free. The Covid epidemic, however, hit before the picture could take advantage of the tax break.

Bajirao Mastani (2015): A month after its release, the Uttar Pradesh government awarded tax exemption to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus. The film had already made enough money in its first four weeks to be considered a success. The moral of the story is that if a picture is to receive tax benefits, it should be made available at the time of release.

Dangal/Neerja (2016): Several states granted tax exemptions to two big films released in the same year, and they were well-deserved. Both Dangal and Neerja advocated for female emancipation in their unique ways.

But the issue that has to be answered is: what is the point of exempting big-budget films from paying taxes when they can afford to do so?