MUMBAI: Deciding to participate in a nationwide strike called by the Film Federation of India to protest against the government‘s proposal to bring the film industry under the purview of service tax, all cinema halls (single-screen and multiplexes) across the country will shut shop on 23 February.

Said multiplex owners‘ association president Deepak Asher, "All multiplexes in the country will be shut on 23 February. Not only us, single-screen theatres along with the entire film industry from production to distribution to exhibition, will be shut.”

But would a day’s token strike have any impact? “I guess no, but depending on the response we get on that day, we will think whether to go on an indefinite strike or not. All said and done, the one-day strike would definitely draw attention. People will sit up and ponder.”

Observed distributor Shyam Shroff, “ The matter being very serious, we have decided to protest. Generally, what happens is the service tax is collected from the consumer and passed on to the government. But in this case, it will pass from distributor to the exhibitor and the best part is that it should not pass to the consumer. So how are things to work out?”