The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association does not probably realise the importance of effective communication. The construction of its letters to ministers is often so weird that one wonders if the ministers concerned or even their PAs bother to read them. The letter written by the Association to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 24th November, pleading for abolition of GST on the film and entertainment industry, is an instance in point.
Believe it or faint but the entire and very long first paragraph of the letter is just a single sentence, that too, without commas or other punctuation marks. How does one read such a long sentence? And is it even possible to remember where the sentence started and understand where it is ending? Take a look at the paragraph — sorry, sentence — being reproduced ad verbatim:
“This is with reference to our earlier letter dated 15th November, 2021 (copy attached) requesting you to kindly consider the pain and agony the Film Industry is going through due to extreme taxation and also GST being levied at 18% which is at a very high rate because this is an industry where Government makes no investment at all but takes away the lion’s share in the income generated and therefore in such an industry where the entire capital is being contributed by the entrepreneurs and today at a stage where the industry has reached a dead end due to the pandemic it has become very important and necessary that new blood & strength be pumped into the industry by way of abolishing GST and all other taxes as a onetime measure to revive the industry because we have to keep in mind that the Government has given massive tax exemption and subsidy to numerous multiplexes and exhibition outlets which are starved of content and without regular flow of films they will have to close down as it is a business which solely runs on the income generated by sale of tickets which tickets also gets sold only if the film appeals to the public enough to inspire them to pay money and buy tickets and therefore if the industry is to survive it needs films and the Government should immediately take necessary steps to abolish or substantially reduce GST on the M&E Industry.”
Assuming for a moment that even if the entire paragraph could not have been written except in one sentence, there needed to be at least 20 commas — perhaps, more! Surely, someone in IMPPA needs to be taken to task!