Bangalore on Monday has witnessed several protests from actors who were against the service tax for artists who earned more than 10 lakhs. While Superstar Rajinikanth was in the lead trying to protest against the government's new decree that would be in effect from July 1, 2012 according to which every artist who earns more than 10 lakhs would have to pay a sum that is 12.36 per cent as service taxes to the government.

This move was widely criticized by the movie associations all over the nation. Rajinikanth pioneered the protests for the Tamilian artists while Venkatesh was spotted protesting along with the artists in Hyderabad. Ambareesh has taken the responsibility for the sandalwood artists. He has the support of artists such as Puneeth Rajkumar, Sudeep, Darshan, Vijaya Raghavendra, Raghavendra Rajkumar, Hema Chaudhary, Sanjana, Sriraksha, Shruthi, Rockline Venkatesh andDoddanna. Ambareesh and co convened at the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) premises while condoning the government decree.

He said that since the actors live on the income which is not regular and until and unless one acts in a movie they won't have a steady source of income, it is not fair for the government to take such a decision. He urged them to consider the fact that there are several artists who are not self sufficient too.

Ambareesh added “We are planning to meet finance minister P Chidambaram under the leadership of Sharathkumar, president, South India Film Artistes’ Association, on January 10”.

(AW- Anil)