LONG after Michael Jackson stopped oozing out of everyone’s ears, organiser Wizcraft still hasn’t heard the last of him. Acting on a social worker’s petition, the Nagpur bench of the Mumbai High Court has impounded all proceeds, movable and immovable assets of the entertainment agency and its bosses. Now it’s being alleged that figures are being fudged to evade possible taxation—though the show was exempt from entertainment tax by the Shiv Sena government, the Mumbai High Court had reopened the issue in response to a consumer group’s petition.
With alarming urgency, former tall claims are being cut down to size and everyone is now in a hurry to subtly write off the "show of the decade". "MJ was a market mover, but you can’t equate the success of a quality production with the returns at the box-office," says Sabbas Joseph, director, Wiz-craft. In short, the company now claims it made losses of "around Rs 4 to 5 crore", instead of the gains that were expected. It was Rs 4 crore that Wizcraft...
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