Search, Survey, Appraisal and Assessment are the jargons income tax officers use as part of their work. But, some IT officers in Jaipur, in addition to these, have also been using words like Light, Sound, Camera, Action, Cut – normally used in film making. Yes, they have been making films, mostly centred around their work. Under able leadership of their Chief Commissioner Mr Sudhanshu Shekhar Jha, the IRS officers have made four films – two feature films and two documentaries – during past one year. Following the interview of Mr Jha (published two days ago), Indian Masterminds spoke to Deputy Director Income Tax (DDIT), Investigations, Mr Ashok Charan, a 2015-batch IRS officer and Assistant Commissioner Income Tax (ACIT), Investigations, Ms Mitika Dahiya, a 2017-batch IRS Officer, who have acted in these films about their experiences.
Please click here to watch the full interview…
The first query obviously is how do they find time to make, direct and act in these films. Although most of these films are educational in nature and are about their work as Income Tax officials, these guys, as a principle, don’t make films during office hours. They work either on weekends or after office hours. As Mr Charan puts it, “The shooting often starts around 8 pm and ends around 3 or 4 am. We take out time to work on them at the cost of our sleep only”.
Both Mr Charan and Ms Dahiya concede that they have been mentored by the Chief Commissioner Income Tax (CCIT) Mr Sudhanshu Shekhar Jha, who had ignited deep interest among his colleagues about film making. Mr Charan has developed keen interest in film direction while Ms Dahiya seems
interested in Camera (Director of Photography). Incidentally, Ms Jha has recently been honoured by Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman for meritorious services in the field of film making for income tax department.
Both Mr Charan and Ms Dahiya are accomplished investigative officer as well. While Mr Ashok Charan detected tax evasion by a corporate giant to tune of Rs 4000 crore, Ms Mitika Dahiya too embarked upon tax evasion by a group of Rajasthan jewellers which went into thousands of crore rupees. The films they have been making centre around the work being done by them, which could preserve their work for posterity and also act as a guide to fellow tax officers. “This will save duplication of efforts”, says Mr Charan.
Some of these films are full of drama, action and even item songs like a commercial movie. “We remain true to the content and script but of course in making a movie which should interest the common man, we sometimes have to take some cinematic liberty”, claims Mr Charan.
Some of their films are available on OTT platforms. Lets hope the clan of film-making IRS officers grows and keep education and entertaining masses, especially their fellow tax officials.
