No, this is no spoof but genuine sympathy. Let me explain. I have always believed that this is a State where cinema is a genetic obsession. It ruins, pardon, runs in blood and breath. TN soul is made of celluloid. This profound conclusion is based not just on the obvious historical fact that reel influences every facet of real life here, be it rationalism or religion, politics or personal preferences, social mores or shopping chores or whatever.
The statement is centred on, er, self knowledge. As someone born in the year Karnan and Kaadhalikka Neramillai were released, I can tell you firsthand that for every situation that arises in my own life I can quote a song, sequence or a sentence from screen. Believe me (you know who that is), there is no escape.
So a bias towards the deities and demigods that adorn our theatres is a given. But my resentment of the IT raids on stars is based on sound reasoning too. Oh, no doubt, it is a duty to pay tax. Or else IT dept will wield the axe. Its duty. No quarrel on that. Filmdom too has been quite clear on that subject. The importance of duty above all personal priorities has been well drilled into our psyche by stirring dialogues uttered in both chaste and colloquial lingo by an assortment of heroes from thilagams to nayagans to stars. Even Lord Krishna, in his various avatars as NTR, has dwelled much on duty a.k.a karma.
But my question is, why are cinestars frequently singled out as special targets for delivering duty by a particular arm of law? Clearly, raids on actors and actresses evoke instant and massive public attention and IT dept probably thinks that is a good way of sending a stringent message to the masses who are invariably fans of some star. Also, film finances are often shady and opaque affairs, given the uncertainty and mechanics of the industry. Behind the mega graphics and multi-coloured splendour lie transactions in plain black and white, a scent no IT sleuth can resist. But that is so in virtually every business.
Land deals, big or small, involve open cash exchange right in the registrar offices. Anniyan Ambi will be ready to provide as much evidence as officialdom wants. But to these glaring cases the department casts a blind eye even while reserving an eagle eye for the likes of N’tara or Sm’tha. Ok, Vijay and Puli producers too, if you wish. Bureaucracy itself is a cesspool of corruption. I know of one Mr Ramana who can supply us with meticulous statistics on babudom’s bribe history along with precise dates, time, amounts and the donors and projects. But with nary any guilt, the red tape tangles the ordinary citizen and shackles petty businesses in trivial rules and regulations.
But the biggest pumpkin that the IT dept somehow manages to miss consistently is politics. Politicians, particularly those who have been in power, are the drivers of the parallel economy. Unlike the hard-earned money of actors which even if black can be legitimised with penalty, political black is totally immoral, criminal and anti-national. And worse, such ill-gotten wealth vitiates democracy during polls when they are in brazen play most and also enter and distort other fields like cinema, stocks, real estate and sadly, even media. Puli is an ‘eli’ compared to these white elephants bleeding us after the white men left our shores.
Forget foreign stashes that Narasimha can fetch us in a jiffy once he is done rescuing our top military heads from terrorists.The caches of cash right in India can boost our economic numbers besides public morale. From a councillor upwards, to MLA to MP to Minister and higher, political corruption has generated thousands of crores. Much of the money and its minders are on vulgar display all over the place. Some politicos are even said to have counting machines, used only by banks and of course, IT dept, at their homes! Indeed all info if not fully in public domain are on easy access to even an ordinary officer. The ‘diligent’, raid-happy IT dept that springs to action against actors however remains deaf and dumb and prefers paralysis. Raids and seizures at premises of politicians are rare despite the bountiful booty buried there. All exposes of corruption scandals have filled media space but hardly the government coffers as they should have. Where is the credibility and fair play?
Such willful negligence is a sin against people as also their pet idols. Maybe IT guys should go to Papanasam for redemption. Mr Suyambulingam will surely be somewhere out there with family and be most willing to offer valuable tips in between his dips.
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