In Tamil Nadu, where movie stars are worshiped as demigods, the new GST rate of 28 percent will be added on top of a state-levied entertainment tax of 30 percent, amounting to a total figure that could significantly affect sales. Tamil Nadu's film fraternity has criticized the state government for failing to withdraw additional taxes, as other states, including neighboring Kerala, have done.

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Industry heavyweights met with the state's chief minister late Monday, but discussions reached an impasse, and theaters announced they would keep their doors closed until the next meeting with Tamil Nadu's government.

The strikes are likely to have a huge impact on Tamil Nadu's Kollywood, among the most popular of India's regional film industries. In recent years it has produced blockbusters to rival the vastly popular Hindi-language Bollywood industry. (Just as Bollywood is a coinage combining Bombay, the former name of Mumbai, and Hollywood, Kollywood derives from melding Kodambakkam, a neighborhood of Chennai, with the U.S. movie capital.)

Tamil movie star Rajnikanth has a following so vast that companies have been known to give their employees a day off on the release dates of his newest films, to avoid huge numbers of leave requests.

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Fans hope the strikes will end before the weekend, when ticket sales peak. At least 10 new films released in the past two weeks are not being screened because of the strikes, according to the Wire. In an impassioned plea, director Rajmohan Kannan said the strikes would devastate revenues for his newly released Tamil film "Ivan Thanthiran" and “kill” the movie, according to Scroll.

Going to the movies is such an important part of public life in Tamil Nadu that, for many years, the state's political elite have been alumni of its hugely popular film industry. Former chief minister Jayaram Jayalalitha, who enjoyed cult-like status in the state, was known as Tamil cinema's girl-next-door. M.G. Ramachandran, another ex-chief minister, was famous for playing heroes.

Abirami Ramanathan, president of the Tamil Nadu Cinema Theater Owners Federation, told the Press Trust of India: “We welcome GST. We are not happy with the corporation tax which is 30 percent. It is coming into effect from tomorrow. Kerala government has withdrawn it. We want the Tamil Nadu government to withdraw it too.”

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Taxing movies has provided a steady stream of revenue for state governments in south India, where film industries make nearly $650 million a year, according to a report by Deloitte.

It's not just Tamil Nadu's movie industry that was left reeling since the new GST rules came into force. In Surat, in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, cloth merchants were struck by police after stones were thrown at a protest in the town. Thousands of textile traders around the country are on strike to protest new charges under GST.

GST taxes items classed as “luxury” goods more highly, and the classification system has sparked controversy among traders. Fireworks factories have closed down to protest a hefty tax of 28 percent. Dry fruits merchants are up in arms after rates on imports were raised to 12 percent.

Women have complained about incongruent aspects of the system, such as taxing sanitary napkins as luxury items but sparing adornments such as bangles or sindoor, the vermillion worn by married women on their foreheads after marriage, as everyday items.

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Despite the rumpus, Modi's government has been praised in newspaper editorials for passing the GST. Benchmark indexes were trading higher when markets opened Monday, cheering the new reform.