Salman Khan wants his ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ to be made tax-free

In July 2015, Salman Khan’s film Bajrangi Bhaijaan was breaking box office records. Then the star said something unusual. He asked for his own film to be made tax free. Within days, Uttar Pradesh agreed. The story of the Bajrangi Bhaijaan tax free demand helps answer a question many film fans ask. What does it really mean when a state makes a movie tax free? And does your ticket really get cheaper?

This post was first written as a short news item in 2015. We have now turned it into a full explainer. It covers what Salman said, what Uttar Pradesh did, how film taxes worked before GST, how they work today, and which other films have been made tax free.

What Did Salman Khan Say?

Bajrangi Bhaijaan was released on 17 July 2015, one day before Eid. It opened on about 4,500 screens in India. On 19 July, the news agency PTI reported what Salman said in an interview.

“It has to be tax free,” he said. “We want government to earn money from this (film), but the government should put that money for the betterment of the society, so that there is progress. But if that doesn’t happen, then the film has to be made tax free.”

In simple words, he was saying this. If the government takes tax from the film, it should spend that money on people. If it cannot promise that, it should let people watch the film without the tax.

Around the release, he had also used Twitter to ask two leaders to watch the film. They were Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif, who was then the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The film’s theme made that request feel natural, as you will see below.

Why This Film?

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is about Shahida, a little girl from Pakistan who cannot speak. She gets separated from her mother in India. A kind and honest Hanuman devotee, Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi, played by Salman, decides to take her home across the border. Kareena Kapoor Khan plays Rasika, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a Pakistani reporter, Chand Nawab. The film was directed by Kabir Khan, who had earlier made Ek Tha Tiger (2012) with Salman. If you want the full story and what critics thought, read our Bajrangi Bhaijaan review.

The film’s message of friendship between the people of India and Pakistan was a big part of the tax free debate. Supporters felt that a story about kindness across borders deserved the widest possible audience.

Was There a Bajrangi Bhaijaan Tax Free Order?

Yes. On 20 July 2015, Kabir Khan met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow. After the meeting, the state government decided to make the film tax free, according to an official spokesman quoted by PTI.

Kabir Khan was pleased. “I am very happy. Now it will reach more people,” he told Bollywood Hungama. Co producer Amar Butala thanked the Chief Minister and said the exemption would make the film reach a bigger audience in the state.

Reports at the time said that Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bihar were also thinking about it. We could not confirm that those states actually did it, so we do not claim that here.

What Does “Tax Free” Mean for a Film?

Before GST: The Entertainment Tax

Until 2017, the main tax on cinema tickets was the entertainment tax. Under India’s Constitution, entertainment was a state subject. It is in List 2 of the Seventh Schedule. So each state set its own rate, and the rates varied a lot. India Today notes that the tax was higher in states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Some states used the tax to support films in their own language. In Maharashtra, Marathi films paid no entertainment tax. In Tamil Nadu, Tamil films were tax free if they had a Tamil title and a U certificate from the Censor Board.

When a state made a film tax free in those days, it simply gave up the entertainment tax on that film. Since this tax was large in some states, tickets could become much cheaper.

After GST: Only Half the Tax Goes

GST, the goods and services tax, began on 1 July 2017. It replaced many old taxes, including the entertainment tax. Now cinema tickets pay GST. The rates have changed a few times:

• July 2017: GST on cinema tickets started at 28 percent.
• December 2018: The GST Council cut it. Tickets above Rs 100 went from 28 to 18 percent. Tickets up to Rs 100 went from 18 to 12 percent.
• 22 September 2025: Tickets up to Rs 100 went from 12 to 5 percent. Tickets above Rs 100 stayed at 18 percent.

Here is the key point. GST on a ticket is split into two equal halves. One half is CGST, which goes to the Centre. The other half is SGST, which goes to the state. When a state declares a film tax free today, it gives up only its own half, the SGST. The Centre’s half stays.

Let us take an example. Say a ticket costs Rs 200 before tax. GST at 18 percent adds Rs 36. Of that, Rs 18 is the state’s share. If the state makes the film tax free, you save that Rs 18, not the full Rs 36. For a ticket above Rs 100, that is a 9 percent saving. For a cheap ticket under Rs 100, the saving is now only 2.5 percent.

If you want to understand how CGST and SGST appear on a bill, see our guide to decoding a GST bill.

Why Your Ticket May Not Get Cheaper

News18 explains a catch. Even after a film is declared tax free, tickets are sometimes not as cheap as people expect. This can happen when the ticket price itself is raised after the announcement. So the tax goes down, but the base price goes up.

Who Decides Which Film Is Tax Free?

There is no fixed rule. Each state decides film by film. Most often, states choose films that deal with a social cause or tell an inspiring story. The idea is to help more people see them.

Producers do not get the tax money. But filmmakers often see tax free status as a kind of government approval. It is good publicity. If more people come to theatres, the film earns more.

Tax free status can also turn political. In 2022, many states made The Kashmir Files tax free. In Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar did not agree to a state waiver. Instead, he said that if the Centre waived its own GST, the relief would apply to the entire country.

Is Making Films Tax Free a Good Idea?

People have mixed views. Here are the main points on each side.

Points in favour: A lower ticket price can bring more families to a film with a useful message. Films on topics like sanitation, girls’ sport or menstrual health have often been chosen for this reason.

Points against: The state gives up money that it could spend on roads, schools or hospitals. Since there are no fixed rules, the choice of films can look political. And as we saw above, the saving does not always reach the viewer.

This was close to what Salman said in 2015. He did not say the tax was bad in itself. He said tax money should be used to help society.

Famous Tax Free Films

According to News18, Gandhi (1982) by Richard Attenborough is the only film declared tax free by both the Centre and the states. Many other films have been made tax free in one or more states. These include:

• Taare Zameen Par (2007)
• Mary Kom and Mardaani (2014)
• Dangal and Neerja (2016)
• Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017)
• Padman (2018)
• Chhapaak (2020)
• The Kashmir Files (2022)
• The Kerala Story (2023), in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

How Did Bajrangi Bhaijaan Do?

The film did not need the tax relief to succeed. It earned a reported Rs 102 crore in its first three days. It went on to gross more than Rs 900 crore worldwide and became the highest grossing Indian film of 2015. It also won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

The little girl who played Shahida, Harshaali Malhotra, became a star overnight. Read five things you did not know about Harshaali Malhotra. To see how films like this shape the way we think, read our piece on how Indian cinema has shaped culture.

What We Changed From the Old Post

• The old post gave two different early box office numbers, 64 crore and 63.75 crore, for the same days. We have used the reported three day figure instead.
• It claimed the film beat the records of Salman’s Kick. We could not verify this, so it is removed.
• It now explains that a tax free tag today removes only the state’s half of GST.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Bajrangi Bhaijaan made tax free?

Yes. Uttar Pradesh made it tax free on 20 July 2015, after director Kabir Khan met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Who decides if a film is tax free?

The state government decides, case by case. There are no fixed criteria.

How much cheaper is a tax free ticket today?

The state gives up its SGST share. That is 9 percent on tickets above Rs 100 and 2.5 percent on tickets up to Rs 100.

Do producers earn the waived tax?

No. The tax is simply not collected. Producers only gain if more people buy tickets.