By Shilpa Kannan
BBC correspondent in Bombay |
 Cinema owners say they cannot afford the taxes |
Nearly 1,000 cinema halls across the western Indian state of Maharastra are threatening to shut indefinitely from 17 October in a row over tax. Cinema owners say the state's levy on the entertainment industry is too high for them to continue operations.
They want rates halved, and taxes not to be linked to box office takings.
In the last three years nearly 50 cinemas have closed in and around Bombay (Mumbai), the centre of India's Bollywood film industry.
A strike had been planned in May this year but was called off after the government promised an inquiry. Multiplex cinemas are not expected to take part in the strike as they have a three-year tax exemption.
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