1. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will meet virtually on August 2 and finalise draft rules on levying 28% tax full value of online betting games. The meet will consider amendments to be made in CGST ACT of 2017 and respective state GST laws. The State Assemblies have to clear the SGST Act changes.

2. Industry watchers are confident that 28% GST on online games will not impact Esports as it does not involve betting. Esports have been recognised by the Government of India and come under the Ministry of Sports. The prize money in ESports tournaments are sponsored by brands. Representatives of the Indian Games Industry have called for distinction between video games and real money gaming/ fantasy sports.

3. Florence Pugh’s Nude Scene in Oppenheimer is covered up and digitally censored by a computer generated black dress in India and Middle East. This is done to secure clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India, where the film has a UA rating.  This is now becoming a routine biz practice by studios for films to escape strict certification rules

4. The music streaming company Spotify posted a loss of 302 mn euros (for the quarter ended June 23). Its quarterly revenue was 3.18 bn euros. Spotify has more than half-a-billion people (551mn) users signed up globally.It added 10 mn paid subscribers and 36mn users during the quarter ending June 23. Spotify is impacted by its podcasts business.  

5. Anand Patwardhan’s The World is Family, which traces his parents’ personal history and their links to the leaders of India’s independence movement, will be a world Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival Docs 2023. The TIFF Docs programme presented by A&E IndieFilms, features 22 titles from 12 countries around the world. Audiences will encounter unforgettable figures such as mountain climber Lhakpa Sherpa, Japan’s reality TV star Nasubi, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, Indigenous activist Layla Staats, historian Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, and Canadian icon Mr. Dressup.

6. Filmmaker Honey Trehan’s Punjab 95 will be a world premiere at TIFF 2023 in the Gala Presentations. Punjab 95 stars Diljit Dosanjh as the late human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Movies in association with MacGuffin Pictures. Punjab 95 is Honey Trehan’s second feature film as a director after 2021’s Raat Akeli Hai. Trehan was casting director for Talvar, Delhi Belly, Tumbbad, Udta Punjab.

7. India’s debut filmmaker Karan Tejpal’s thriller film Stolen will be screened at the Orizzonti Extra section, official line-up of the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30 to September 9). Stolen is produced by Gaurav Dhingra and stars Abhishek Banerjee, Shubham, Mia Maelzer, Harish Khanna and Sahidur Rahaman.